Formulation of a Nutrient-Rich Complementary Biscuit for Children Between Eight Months and Fifty Nine Months

Kembabazi Stellamaris

doi:10.11648/j.ijfsb.20180301.15

Abstract

Low breast feeding rates, early introduction of complementary foods, heavy workload of the care givers, lack of ready-to- prepare formulations and the infrequency of feeding of the weaned children are the major causes of Protein Energy Malnutrition in western Uganda. The common complementary foods in Ugandan rural areas are staple cereals gruels and porridges which have low energy density with low animal-protein intake. The study aimed at formulating a nutrient-rich biscuit from locally available materials with the potential to mitigate undernutrition. A low water content biscuit with high energy density and recommendable shelf-life stability under domestic storage conditions was baked from locally available food materials with a composite flour of 24% soya bean flour, 20% pumpkin seed flour, 32% banana flour and 24% wheat flour. Biscuit servings of 66g, 77g, 110g and 132g were sufficient to meet above 50% of the RDA for infants of 8 months to 12months, 12 months to 24months, 24 to 48 and 48 to 59months old children respectively.

Highlights

In Uganda, malnutrition is the underlying cause of as many as 45% of the child deaths; rates of anaemia and Vitamin A deficiency are especially alarming affecting almost half of children under 5 [1]
Given the obtained nutritive values of the biscuits serving portions of 3, 3.5, 5 and 6 are recommended for age groups 8months to 12 months, 12 to 24months, 24 to 48months and 48 to 59months respectively
The biscuits baked in this study were made from locally available materials in Bushenyi and target to mitigate the common deficiencies in Bushenyi

Summary

Introduction

In Uganda, malnutrition is the underlying cause of as many as 45% of the child deaths; rates of anaemia and Vitamin A deficiency are especially alarming affecting almost half of children under 5 [1]. The low breast feeding rates, early introduction of complementary foods, heavy workload of the care givers, lack of ready-to-eat formulations and the infrequency of feeding of the weaned children have been established as the leading causes of Protein Energy Malnutrition [3, 4]. The common complementary foods given to the weaned children are gruels and porridges from staple cereals which have low energy density with low rates of introduction of animal products like meat and eggs [5].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion