Abstract

   Complementary feeding in Low-and- Middle-Income-Countries (LMICs) such as Nigeria remains a major concern as the burden of childhood malnutrition has worsened in Northern Nigeria.

  The study set was designed to formulate complementary foods using available staples, compare energy and macronutrient density to international standards, estimate the cost of production of the blends and carry out a sensory evaluation on the diets. Ingredients were purchased from a grain market in Gombe, Gombe state, Nigeria. The diets were formulated by a 60:40 (cereal/tuber : legume) mix ratio using a household level approach.

Diet A: Sweet potatoes + millet + groundnut + bambaranut (25:35:30:10%w/w)

  Diet B: Tiger nut + millet + groundnut + bambaranut (25:35:30:10% w/w). Cereals, tubers and legumes were prepared using simple household level approaches. Diets were constituted and homogenously blended into fine powder, sieved, packed and labeled. Proximate composition analysis to determine macronutrient and energy density was carried out using standard analytical methods. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics.Th e results show that energy density of diets were between 4.04 ± 1.84 kcal/g – 4.13 ± 2.84 kcal/g, crude protein (15.84 ± 0.59% - 18.28 ± 0.35%), crude fat (5.84 ± 0.4% - 8.41 ± 0.21) and were comparable to International Food Standard values as amended in 2017. Moisture values were between 1.17 ± 0.12% - 2.46 ± 0.15% suggesting longer shelf life for the foods. Cost of production of 400g commercial packaging was less than 1USD (N272). The diets had good energy and macronutrient density, a very low cost of production and overall acceptability which presents as a strong tool in tackling malnutrition in low income populations.

Keywords: Complementary Feeding; Energy Density; Macronutrient Density; Northern Nigeria

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Citation

Citation: Kelechi-Ebisike Vivian O., et al. “Energy/Macronutrient Density and Sensory Evaluation of Formulated Complementary Foods for use in Low-Income Populations in Northern Nigeria". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 4.3 (2020): 116-121.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Kelechi-Ebisike Vivian O., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.