A household‐level sweet potato‐based infant food to complement vitamin A supplementation initiatives

Abstract

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa is high in spite of vitamin A supplementation programmes among children in most countries. Plant-based complementary foods remain the key source of nutrients in addition to breast milk for infants in lower income countries. Cereal-legume blends are superior in protein and energy densities compared with maize, millet or sorghum-only porridge. However, unfortified cereal-legume and cereal-only porridges are low in vitamin A. A household-level sweet potato-based infant food, rich in vitamin A, has been developed to complement vitamin A supplementation initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. A composite flour containing sweet potato, soybean, soybean oil and fishmeal was processed as complementary food by oven toasting (denoted oven-toasted ComFa). The oven-toasted ComFa and enriched Weanimix (processed from dehulled maize, dehulled soybean, groundnut and fishmeal) were assessed for suitability as complementary food based on the nutrient composition using specifications in the Codex Standard (CS) as a reference. The sweet potato-based formulation and enriched Weanimix met the energy, protein, fructose and fat specifications but barely met the amino acid score as indicated in the CS. However, only the oven-toasted ComFa met the calcium and almost half the vitamin A levels as specified in the CS. Oven-toasted ComFa was slightly lower in energy, protein and fat by a difference not greater than 4.0% but was higher by more than 100% in fructose and vitamin A levels. Therefore, the sweet potato-based complementary food is likely to support vitamin A supplementation initiatives in low-income countries better than the cereal-based formulation.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) as a drought tolerant and food security crop

“…Low et al 42 reported that studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa demonstrated that consumption of boiled orangefleshed sweet potato improved vitamin A status of children. A separate study by Amagloh 43 confirmed that orange-fleshed sweet potato was high in vitamin A and could be used as a complementary food in infant feeding. To improve the consumption of this vitamin A rich type of sweet potato, Laurie and Van Heerden 44 prepared different food types (chips, doughnuts, juice from the roots and a green leafy dish from the leaves) from orange-fleshed sweet potato to determine consumer acceptability.…”

Carbohydrate composition, viscosity, solubility, and sensory acceptance of sweetpotato- and maize-based complementary foods

“…However, diluting the paste to reduce the viscosity leads to energy and nutrient thinning (that is, the reduction of energy and nutrient densities). Therefore, a household-level sweetpotato-based complementary food has been suggested as a more suitable complementary food as it would be lower in starch resulting in a less viscous porridge compared with a maize-based infant product (5). …”

“…Weanimix was developed in 1987 in Ghana through collaboration between UNICEF and the Nutrition Unit of the Ministry of Health, Ghana; it contains maize, groundnut, and soyabean or cowpea (14, 15), and it is an improved complementary food compared with traditional cereal-only porridge in energy and protein (15). In our studies, Weanimix was slightly modified by using dehulled maize and soyabean instead of using non-dehulled ingredients, and denoted as enriched Weanimix (5, 16, 17). The extrusion-cooked ComFa and roller-dried ComFa contained 83% of the protein content of 15 g/100 g recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (1), but the oven-toasted ComFa and enriched Weanimix met the protein specification.…”

Iron Bioavailability and Provitamin A from Sweet Potato- and Cereal-Based Complementary Foods

“…Infants and toddlers are at increased risk for ID and VAD when complementary foods, which are usually cereal-based, are introduced [4]. These cereal-based foods are often poor dietary sources of both vitamin A [5,6] and bioavailable iron as they contain high levels of iron absorption inhibitors such as phytates [7,8], or polyphenols [8]. The ideal complementary food should have adequate levels of nutrients and high mineral bioavailability [9].…”

“…Sweet potato-based complementary food formulations, prepared from cream- or orange-fleshed sweet potato (CFSP or OFSP, respectively) cultivars, contain significantly more β-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A, than cereal-based products [5,6]; have acceptable sensory attributes [10,11]; and, desirable physical properties, such as viscosity, for complementary feeding [10,11]. Additionally, sweet potato is relatively low in phytate compared to cereals [12,13], thus it would be expected that the sweet potato food matrix would have a less inhibitory effect on iron absorption in human infants.…”