Enhancing Vitamin A Intake in Young Children in Western Kenya: Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes and Women Farmers Can Serve as Key Entry Points

Abstract

In western Kenya, where vitamin A deficiency is common and the white sweet potato is an important secondary staple, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes were introduced and their consumption was promoted, along with other vitamin A-rich foods. Ten women's groups grew a number of varieties of sweet potato on group plots in on-farm trials. Five of the groups also received an intervention consisting of nutritional education, individual counseling, and participatory rapid appraisal techniques to promote vitamin A consumption, while the other five formed the control group that received no additional promotion. Changes in consumption of children under five years of age were assessed before and after a one-year intervention period using the Helen Keller International food-frequency method. Varieties were tested for yield, agronomic performance, taste and appearance, and dry matter content. They were also assessed for β-carotene content in the forms of boiled and mashed puree, sweet potato flour, and processed products. Children in the intervention group consumed vitamin A-rich foods almost twice as frequently as control children (93% more), especially orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, mangoes, dark-green leafy vegetables, butter, and eggs. The yields of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes were at least twice those of white sweet potatoes, as were the taste and appearance ratings. The dry matter content of the varieties exceeded 25%, except for one that was preferred as a weaning food. β-Carotene values were high enough that one cup of boiled and mashed sweet potato fed daily to children of weaning age would alone meet their requirement of vitamin A, even using the higher 12:1 β-carotene:retinol conversion. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes produced and prepared by women farmers can serve as a key foodbased entry point for reducing vitamin A deficiency.

The production of provitamin A‐rich vegetables in home‐gardens as a means of addressing vitamin A deficiency in rural African communities

“…In a community‐based project in Kenya, new varieties of orange‐fleshed sweet potato were introduced to women farmers. Children's dietary intake of vitamin A‐rich foods increased provided that factors contributing to good nutrition and gender constraints hindering access to technologies were addressed 58, 59…”

“…In Kenya, for example, adults preferred sweet potato with a high dry matter content, while children preferred sweet potato with a low dry matter content 58 Crops, especially vegetables, grown by women are normally used for household consumption68 and should therefore be promoted in home‐gardens 58 A study in South Africa showed that most of the capital cost is spent on buying seeds 69.…”

“…colour, dry matter content, texture and flavour, are important. In Kenya, for example, adults preferred sweet potato with a high dry matter content, while children preferred sweet potato with a low dry matter content 58…”

A Study of Household Food security and Adoption of Biofortified Crop Varieties in Tanzania: The Case of Orange- Fleshed Sweetpotato

“…Thus growing and consuming vitamin A-rich crops can act as a vehicle for tackling VAD. Indeed, proof-concept studies and efficacy trials have demonstrated that consumption of modest amounts (125g a day) of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP), a biofortified crop, can supply the daily needs of vitamin A [1,12,13].…”

Screening of sweet potato ((Ipomea batatas [L.] Lam.)cultivars for drought tolerance

“…According to the survey conducted in six States in Nigeria by [7], the different forms of sweet potato utilization are boiling and eating with stew/palm oil, slicing and frying, roasting, boiling and eating as snack; boiling and pounding alone or with boiled yam/garri for eating with soup; cooking alone or with another crop to make pottage; slicing and sun-drying for milling into flour; feeding of vines and leaves to livestock; small tuberous roots as livestock feed; made into fufu like cassava; fresh leaves and young shoots consumed as vegetable. Also, in some African countries like Kenya, the storage roots are boiled and eaten, or chipped, dried and milled into flour which is then used to prepare snacks and baby weaning foods [8].…”