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Objectives To assess the dietary nutrient intakes of 12–23-months-old children and lactating women at fasting vs. non-fasting period in rural Ethiopia. In addition, to develop and validate a Calculator for Inadequate Intake of Micronutrient (CIMI) program, which is simple, easy-to-use app based on consumption amounts of different food and beverages groups which calculates the dietary micronutrient intake of an individual. Methods A community-based longitudinal assessments were conducted in lent fasting (n = 377 and 568) and non-fasting (n = 404 and 518) periods at rural Ethiopia (12–23-months-old children and lactating mothers, respectively). Statistical analyses were done using SPSS and Excel. For validation, we compared the average nutrient intake and percentage of participants identified with an inadequate intake (<2/3 of RNI) analyzed by two different methods: CIMI and the established nutrition assessment software NutriSurvey (NS). Results Children's and women's intake of the energy and all of the nutrients were lower in the lent fasting compared to non-fasting in both the study groups. Likewise, the prevalence of inadequate intake of most of the energy, protein and most micronutrients were higher in both the 12–23-months-old children (1.7–9.1%) and lactating women in lent fasting (1.6–21.4%) than non-fasting period. Comparable average dietary nutrient for children (R = 0.741–0.956) and lactating mothers (R = 0.628–0.920) and inadequate prevalence results were calculated by CIMI and NS. Conclusions Nutrition intervention should give more attention on diet improvement activities of the young children and lactating women and religious fasting periods should also get priority in this respect. CIMI developed for Ethiopian population precisely determine the average nutrient intake and identify inadequate micronutrient intake of individuals using RNI. Funding Sources German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs

Micronutrient malnutrition (Hidden Hunger) is a burden for both developing and developed countries. To evaluate micronutrient intake, biochemical data are not very useful and food frequency questionnaires are time consuming and need a trained interviewer. The aim of our approach was to create an innovative, easy to use, and informative web‐based application to calculate the micronutrients intake based on the traditional and locally available diet. The Calculator of Inadequate Micronutrient Intake (CIMI) program is based on food survey data of Indonesian foods (122 foods) from 68800 household and was implemented in HTML5. CIMI was validated using data of children (n=118) and female adults (n=124) and the results were compared to data derived from using Nutrisurvey (NS). The average intake of energy and nutrients calculated using CIMI and NS were similar. Calculation by CIMI and NS with respect to two thirds of RNI as cut‐off showed that there were subjects with inadequate intake of energy and nutrients (Vitamin A, iron, zinc). High percentage of predictive value and a strong correlation between CIMI and NS were observed. CIMI is a simple tool to rapidly calculate the energy, nutrient intakes, and percentage of nutrient fulfillment, thus, can assist in detecting the gap between actual and required micronutrient intake and can be used to suggest changes in dietary patterns to improve nutrition quality.