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In summary, this review summarizes the current status and future prospects regarding the immunomodulatory potential of various herbs and plants and their promising utility for designing and developing effective drugs and medicines in safeguarding the health of humans, animals, and poultry.

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Background & aim Concurrent estimates on the magnitude and evidence on the determinants of complementary feeding (CF) practices in Ethiopia are currently disparate. Hence, this systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the magnitude and determinants of CF among children age 6–23 months in Ethiopia. Methods Studies from various databases published until July 2018 were identified, selected, extracted and assessed for risk of bias by two authors independently. A random-effects model was used to pool the prevalence and odds ratios (ORs). Results 26 studies with 17, 383 children were included. The pooled prevalence estimate of timely initiated CF, minimum dietary diversity (DD), minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet were 61.0%, 18.0%, 56.0%, and 10.0% respectively. The pooled prevalence of timely initiation and minimum DD were higher in Northern Ethiopia. On the other hand, except for the minimum meal frequency, all the three core indicators of CF were better in urban than rural settings. Child age, maternal and/or paternal education, paternal involvement, maternal DD, antenatal and postnatal care, and place of delivery were the main determinants that can increase appropriate CF practices. Conclusion The reported estimates of the prevalence of core CF indicators in Ethiopia remained poor. Therefore, the authors would like to acknowledge the effort that has been done by the minister of health and its partners including Alive & Thrive to improving CF practices in the country, however, these programs should be done more thoroughly, and scaled up by applying and adapting tested, proven approaches and tools in contexts.

The current rate of population growth is so fast that, to feed this massive population, a 2-fold increase in land is required for the production of quality food. Improved dietary products such as milk and its products with antioxidant properties and functional foods of animal origin have been utilized to prevent chronic diseases. The designer milk contains low fat and less lactose, more protein, modified level of fatty acids, and desired amino acid profiles. The importance of milk and its products is due to the presence of protein, bioactive peptides, conjugated linoleic acid, omega-3 fatty acid, Vitamin D, selenium, and calcium. These constituents are present in milk product, play a key role in the physiological activities in human bodies, and act as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, immune boosting, and antimicrobial activities. Consumer awareness regarding benefits of designer foods such as milk and its products is almost non-existent worldwide and needs to be established to reach the benefits of designer food technologies in the near future. The main objective of this review was to collect data on the antioxidant properties of milk and its constituents which keep milk-derived products safe and preserved.