The objective of this study was to assess the stunting and wasting rate among children less than five years of age and its associated factors in Jigjiga town. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Jigjiga site from March to May, 2017. A total of 128 household, mother-child pairs were included in the study. A multivariate logistic analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with stunting and wasting, separately. The prevalence of stunting and wasting among children aged 0-59 were (34.9%) and 50.4% respectively. This result revealed that illiterate mothers were (58.6%) higher than literate mothers 42.4%, in that matter the child whose mother is illiterate are most likely to be stunted or wasted than children whose mother is literate. This might be lack of awareness about the nutritious food to meet physiological status of child and unavailability of latrine. In general, the magnitude of stunting and wasting exists as a severe public health concern. Therefore, improving socio-economic status, latrine and maternal postnatal vitamin-supplementation coverage are essential to mitigate the high burden of stunting.

Background: This study was conducted to determine the effect of tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc) Trotter], sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and faba bean (Vicia faba) blending ratio and fermentation time on chemical composition of Injera.

This paper is aimed to review the updated scientific information regarding effects on mineral obsorption associated with major ant nutritional factors found in plant foods. Some anti nutrients may exert beneficial health effects at low concentrations. When they are used at low levels, phytate, lectins, tannins, amylase inhibitors and saponins have also been shown to reduce the blood glucose and insulin responses to starchy foods and/or the plasma cholesterol and triglycerides. In addition, phytates, tannins, saponins, protease inhibitors, goetrogens and oxalates have been related to reduce cancer risks. This implies that anti-nutrients might not always harmful even though lack of nutritive value. However, most antinutrients in plant foods are responsible for deleterious effects related to the absorption of nutrients and micronutrients. For example, phytic acid, lectins, tannins, saponins, amylase inhibitors and protease inhibitors have been shown to reduce the availability of nutrients and cause growth inhibition. Despite of this, the balance between beneficial and hazardous effects of plant bioactives and anti-nutrients rely on their concentration, chemical structure, time of exposure and interaction with other dietary components. Due to this, they can be considered as anti-nutritional factors with negative effects or non-nutritive compounds with positive effects on health.

The effects of 55-70% teff (Eragrostis tef), 20-30% sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and 5-15% faba bean (Viciafaba) flours blending ratio and fermentation time (24, 48 and 72 h) with custom design on iron, zinc and calcium contents and sensory properties of injera were investigated using 100% teff injera as a control. The mixture of faba bean and sorghum with tef significantly increased the iron, zinc and calcium contents of the blended injera. High iron (22.66 mg/100 g), zinc (23.81 mg/100 g) and calcium (187.25 mg/100 g) contents were obtained from 55% tef, 30% sorghum and 15% faba bean blended injera fermented for 72 h. Sensory acceptability of all blended injera scored a mean rating well above the average, which is an indicative of the goodness as products. The most preferred injera by panelists was produced from tef flour combined with 20% sorghum and 10% faba bean flours fermented for 72 h.