Indigenous vegetables: a sustainable approach to improve micronutrient adequacy in Tanzanian women of childbearing age

Conti, Maria Vittoria; Giuseppe, Rachele De; Monti, Maria Cristina; Mkindi, Angela G.; Mshanga, Naelijwa; Ceppi, Silvia; Msuya, John; Cena, Hellas

doi:10.1038/s41430-021-00865-x

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This could be due to its richness in iron and beta-carotene among other micronutrients [ 36 ]. This corroborates with the results of a study in Tanzania, which associated the consumption of indigenous vegetables with micronutrient adequacy, and the absence of indigenous vegetables in an area can be an indication of micronutrient deficiencies especially in women of child-bearing age [ 37 ]. Amaranth seeds can be used in porridge flour.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Exploring the Status of Preference, Utilization Practices, and Challenges to Consumption of Amaranth in Kenya and Tanzania

Nyonje

Yang

Kejo³

et al. 2022

Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

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African leafy vegetables such as amaranth have been utilized since time immemorial both as food and as medicine. These vegetables grew naturally in most rural environments, but currently most of them are cultivated both for home consumption and for sale. The aim of this study was to identify the most preferred amaranth species and cooking and utilization practices, as well as the beliefs and attitudes that encourage or discourage use of this vegetable. The study was carried out in seven counties of Kenya and in three regions in Tanzania. Twenty Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with members of the community and twenty Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with agricultural and nutrition officers were conducted in the study areas to obtain information on preferred varieties, sources of amaranth vegetables, common cooking methods, alternative uses, beliefs and taboos surrounding amaranth consumption, and the challenges experienced in production and consumption. The findings of the study showed that amaranth is one of the most commonly consumed indigenous vegetables in Kenya and Tanzania. The preference for varieties and cooking habits differs depending on the community and individuals. Amaranthus dubius and Amaranthus blitum were most common in Kenya, while Amaranthus dubius and Amaranthus hypochondriacus were most common in Tanzania. Most people consumed these vegetables because they were affordable and available or because of circumstance of lacking other foods. Regarding cooking, final taste was mostly considered rather than nutritional attribute. Several alternative uses of amaranth such as uses as medicine and livestock feed were also reported, as well as some beliefs and taboos surrounding the vegetable. Training on nutritional attributes and promotion of food preparation practices that ensure maximum nutrient benefits from amaranth is needed at the community level to realize the nutritional importance of the vegetables. Hands-on training and demonstrations were the most preferred modes of passing information.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Exploring the Status of Preference, Utilization Practices, and Challenges to Consumption of Amaranth in Kenya and Tanzania

Nyonje

Yang

Kejo³

et al. 2022

Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

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“…Although Tanzanian society is patriarchal, the concept of women playing a marginal role is overcome: their actual role is central to the food system, impacting the health of families and offspring, both indirectly through nutrition during pregnancy and directly through childcare [ 19 ]. The first thousand days of life are considered an important time window for the imprint of future life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, even pre-conception nutrition has been shown to play a key role in fetal programming and future development [ 20 ]. Moreover, the strong connection between nutritional status and the health of women and future unborn children is well documented in the literature [ 19 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a Food Knowledge Questionnaire on Tanzanian Women of Childbearing Age

et al. 2022

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The present manuscript describes the validation of a food knowledge questionnaire (FKQ) for Tanzanian childbearing age women. The FKQ was derived from the Ugandan version and was adapted according to Tanzanian culture and food habits, including 114 closed-ended questions, divided into five different sections. The FKQ was administered to 671 Tanzanian childbearing-age women who were eligible if they: (i) were aged between 14 and 49 years old, (ii) had not been diagnosed with any disease and (iii) lived in the urban or peri-urban area of the Arusha and Morogoro region. The validation process of the FKQ was conducted in Tanzania and the recruitment occurred between August and October 2020. The final version of the validated questionnaire was characterized by a total of 88 questions, divided into ten different sections; each section aimed to investigate a different aspect of food knowledge, except for section A, which collected information related to the social and demographic characteristics of the respondent. The food knowledge questionnaire showed good construct validity and content validity to assess knowledge and food practices in Tanzanian women of childbearing age and could be used in future studies to identify women at higher risk of unhealthy eating habits and food choices.

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“…In general, studies showed that dietary diversity is positively associated with the consumption of wild plants ( 20 , 21 , 34 ). Studies have also shown that the greater the dietary diversity, the greater the adequacy of micronutrients consumed by a given human group ( 4 , 14 , 15 , 25 – 27 ). Agricultural biodiversity within farms and home gardens was also associated with the nutritional quality of diets ( 29 , 30 , 32 , 35 ) and with the livelihood potential of families ( 33 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, however, the assessment of local biodiversity has started to play a part in food consumption studies, especially those with a focus on species considered native, indigenous, wild, and traditional ( 12 – 15 ). However, to date, we do not know systematically how these assessments address food biodiversity, both in terms of (i) new methods capable of overcoming the limitations of existing methods, and (ii) indicators capable of measuring the contribution of biodiversity to nutrition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Biodiversity in Food Consumption Studies: A Systematic Review

Medeiros

Silva²,

Teixeira³

et al. 2022

Front. Nutr.

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The assessment of food biodiversity has gained importance in nutrition due to the positive association between the diversity of foods consumed and the quality of diets. To date, however, we do not know systematically how food consumption studies address food biodiversity. Our objective with this paper was to characterize how food consumption studies address biodiverse foods, both in terms of (i) new methods capable of overcoming the limitations of existing methods, and (ii) indicators capable of measuring the contribution of biodiversity to nutrition. We conducted a systematic review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), using four databases: Web of Science, Medline/PubMed (via National Library of Medicine), Scopus, and Google Scholar. We selected papers focused on the consumption of biodiverse foods without time constraints. In addition, we assessed the methodological quality of the studies we selected. We reviewed a total of 22 studies, and summarized the methods and indicators most used. We found that some researchers used biodiversity mapping strategies based on ethnographic approaches before the dietary assessment. Regarding dietary assessment tools, retrospective direct methods were the most used by researchers. We list 23 indicators used by the authors, among them the Dietary Species Richness (DSR), used in 18% of the studies. Studies that used biodiversity mapping strategies based on ethnographic approaches before the dietary assessment portrayed the local availability of biodiverse foods more consistently, i.e., presented lists with local edible species satisfactorily identified. We believe researchers in the future can avoid many of the limitations of current methods by ensuring that teams are interprofessional. We emphasize that most of the indicators we summarized are not sensitive enough to biodiversity since they do not measure edible resources at the species level. In this sense, the DSR is promising, because it fills information gaps, especially in the case of wild or neglected species.

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Indigenous vegetables: a sustainable approach to improve micronutrient adequacy in Tanzanian women of childbearing age

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Exploring the Status of Preference, Utilization Practices, and Challenges to Consumption of Amaranth in Kenya and Tanzania

Exploring the Status of Preference, Utilization Practices, and Challenges to Consumption of Amaranth in Kenya and Tanzania

Validation of a Food Knowledge Questionnaire on Tanzanian Women of Childbearing Age

Assessment of Biodiversity in Food Consumption Studies: A Systematic Review

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