Nutrition improvement of children in Africa using soybean as a major protein source

JIRCAS International Symposium Proceedings
Full text

Soybean is a key ingredient for the nutrition improvement of children in Africa because it is locally available in many countries and rich in essential nutrients such as protein and fat. The following two examples of fortified foods with soybean as the main protein source will be presented for the discussion.

1) Fortified complementary food supplement in Ghana
In Ghana, the traditional complementary food is fermented corn porridge with sugar called "koko". Since it is composed of only corn and sugar, it does not contain sufficient amount of protein and micronutrients for the growth of weaning children. The insufficient supply of protein/amino acids and micronutrients is considered to be the cause of malnutrition problems such as stunting and anemia. Complementary food supplements using locally available soybean, amino acid (lysine), sugar, palm oil, and micronutrients were formulated and tested for its nutritional efficacy. The delivery models for providing nutritional supplements and its ability to reach the target population were also studied.
2) "Ready to Use therapeutic Food" for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition
Currently, Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), composed of milk protein and peanut as main ingredients, is widely used for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition. The innovative formulation of RUTF using soybean as the main protein source and supplemented with amino acids was developed and tested for its efficacy.
In both cases, the use of amino acids to improve the quality of the protein is key to achieving good efficacy as a food product for nutrition improvement.

Creator Yasuhiko Toride
Subject

Nutrition

Children

Soybean

Amino Acid

Africa

Publisher Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Available Online
Issue 2016
spage 129
epage 137

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