Abstract
Biofortified yellow cassava has been developed to alleviate vitamin A deficiency. We examined the potential contribution of yellow cassava to total retinol activity equivalent (RAE) intake if replacing white by yellow cassava among pre-school Nigerian children. Dietary intake was assessed as part of a randomised controlled trial. Pre-schoolchildren (n 176) were randomly assigned to receive either white cassava (WC) or yellow cassava (YC) for 17 weeks. Dietary intake assessments were conducted during the intervention and 1 month after, when children had resumed their habitual diet. Differences in RAE intake between groups and time points were compared using a linear mixed model regression analysis. During intervention, median RAE intake was 536 µg/d in the YC group and 301 µg/d in the WC group (P < 0·0001). YC contributed approximately 40 % to total RAE intake. Of the children, 9 % in the YC group and 29 % in the WC group had RAE intake below the Estimated Average Requirement. After intervention, median RAE intake was 300 µg/d and did not differ between intervention groups (P = 0·5). The interaction effect of group and time showed a 37 % decrease in RAE intake in the YC group after the intervention (Exp(β) = 0·63; 95 % CI 0·56, 0·72). If WC was replaced by YC after intervention, the potential contribution of YC to total RAE intake was estimated to be approximately 32 %. YC increased total RAE intake and showed a substantially lower inadequacy of intake. It is therefore recommended as a good source of provitamin A in cassava-consuming regions.
Highlights
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is still a public health problem in many low-to-middle income countries, affecting approximately 190 million pre-school age children, which corresponds to about 33 % of the children in this age group globally[1]
94 500 deaths from diarrhoea and 11 200 deaths from measles worldwide were attributed to VAD in 2013, which accounted for 1·7 % of all deaths in children under 5 years in low-to-middle income countries[1]
This study aimed at estimating the contribution of pro-vitamin A biofortified cassava to vitamin A intake in Nigerian pre-schoolchildren, both under experimental and free-living conditions
Summary
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is still a public health problem in many low-to-middle income countries, affecting approximately 190 million pre-school age children, which corresponds to about 33 % of the children in this age group globally[1]. Based on the available data from the only nationally representative food consumption and nutrient survey (2004), 29·5 % of children under 5 years old were classified as vitamin A deficient, with serum retinol concentrations below 0·7 μmol/l(4), which is attributed to inadequate dietary intake. This high prevalence, which was regarded as a public health problem, led to the implementation of several strategies such as vitamin A supplementation and food fortification to reduce VAD prevalence[5]. Till no study has considered the contribution of yellow cassava to the usual intake of vitamin A in a natural setting, outside an experimental study set-up
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