Food and Nutrition Bulletin最新文献

Background: Maize flour in Uganda is milled by hundreds of enterprises, mostly small- (5-20 metric tons [MT]/day) and micro-scale (<5 MT/day) mills or firms. A mandatory maize flour fortification program exists for medium-scale mills (>20 MT/day) and policymakers are considering including smaller-scale millers.

Objective: We estimated the private and public costs of maize flour fortification at different scales and explored their implications for extending the mandatory fortification to include smaller-scale mills.

Methods: We used secondary data on the structure of the maize flour market and primary data on milling and fortification costs to estimate mill and regulatory costs at 3 scales of flour production: micro, small, and medium.

Results: For micro-, small-, and medium-size operations, respectively, operational costs of fortification were US$13, US$9, and US$7 per metric ton (MT) of maize flour, which represented 20%, 16%, and 16% of annual operating costs, and the ratio of fortification equipment cost to mill equipment costs was higher for micro-scale mills (2.7) than for small- (0.38) and medium-scale (0.54) maize mills. Governmental regulatory costs rise if smaller-scale mills are included due to the increased number of facility inspections.

Conclusions: Fortification and regulatory costs increase as production scale decreases. Up-front capital costs of fortification would be daunting for micro- and small-scale mills. Medium-scale mills, which supply social protection programs, might be able to manage fortification costs and other challenges. Decision-makers should consider all costs and cost burdens, and the realities of enforcement capabilities before expanding fortification programs to include smaller-scale operations.

Background: Little is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected food security and livelihoods in Sri Lanka.

Objective: This article aims to assess food insecurity, perceived effects of COVID-19, and coping mechanisms among agriculture-based households in rural Sri Lanka.

Methods: We used 2 rounds of panel data from phone surveys (n = 1057 households) conducted in 5 districts. Food insecurity (30-day recall), perceived impacts of COVID-19 (6-month recall), and coping mechanisms (6-month recall) were assessed using a household questionnaire. To assess food insecurity, we used the 8-item Food Insecurity Experience Scale. We tested for differences between T1 (baseline: December 2020-February 2021) and T2 (follow-up: July 2021-September 2021) and explored the association between food insecurity and the perceived effect of COVID-19 on income using a logistic regression model.

Results: Food insecurity was highly prevalent (T1: 75%, T2: 80%) but varied across districts. Most respondents were affected by COVID-19 and/or COVID-19-associated mitigation measures (T1: 84%, T2: 89%). Among affected households, commonly reported impacts included those on income (T1: 77%, T2: 76%), food costs (T1: 84%, T2: 83%), and travel (∼90% in both rounds). Agricultural activities were also adversely affected (T1: 64%, T2: 69%). About half of COVID-19-affected households reported selling livestock or assets to meet basic needs. Households whose income was impacted by COVID-19 were more likely to be food insecure (adjusted odds ratio: 2.56, P < .001).

Conclusions: Households in rural Sri Lanka experienced food insecurity and livelihood disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional surveys are needed to assess recovery post-COVID-19 and to understand if programs that support livelihoods have been protective.

Background: Food and nutrition insecurity continues to be one of the persistent challenges in Ethiopia. The country has been responding to the challenges in various ways to foster sustainable development.

Objectives: The objective of the study is to assess national food and nutrition security policy and strategic responses.

Method: A qualitative review of policies, strategies, programs, guidelines, and a government commitment, document was conducted. Interviews with experts from food and nutrition-implementing governmental and nongovernmental organizations were also employed. Thematic analysis with description was used.

Results: The results of the study revealed that global initiatives stimulated Ethiopia to progressively take various strategic directions to address the ongoing food and nutrition challenges. In addition to various policy directions, the country has been implementing nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs under the multisectoral approach. The concepts and practices of food and nutrition security shifted from simply balancing the demand and supply of food to a broader and more inclusive food system approach with the involvement of multiple actors. However, more has been said than done. The policy, strategic objectives, and initiatives have not been adequately translated into practices. Actions toward ensuring food and nutrition security, on the other hand, are constrained by institutional, environmental, technological, and emerging priorities like an outbreak of a pandemic and political instability.

Conclusion: The study concluded that available policy and strategic intents have sufficiently addressed food and nutrition challenges in documents and need to be fully translated into practices.

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a serious public health issue affecting children around the world. Severe symptoms and complications commonly found with ECC are adverse effects on health and growth retardation triggered by sensitivity, pain, and abscesses associated with decayed teeth, premature tooth loss, and insufficient food intake due to difficulty in chewing and keeping food in the mouth.

Objective: This article aims to provide an overview of the most recent and current evidence on the association between ECC and nutritional status with an aim to stimulate further research and to identify the impact of nutritional status on ECC and vice versa.

Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were used to search the studies conducted between 2016 and 2022. The included studies were searched using some keyword combinations and saved in Mendeley Desktop for review and referencing. All books, policy briefs, thesis/dissertations, and non-peer-reviewed articles were excluded, and 47 studies were selected for this narrative review.

Results: Many studies have identified long-term, frequent, and nocturnal bottle-feeding and breastfeeding as well as frequent consumption of sugary food and beverages as high-risk factors for ECC. Adverse nutritional status assessed by anthropometric measures, vitamin D status, and iron-deficiency anemia have been studied as risk factors for ECC.

Conclusions: Most of the prevailing studies are either case-control or cross-sectional studies, which are unable to provide strong evidence to prove the direction of causality. Thus, further prospective studies are needed to clarify the association between ECC and the nutritional status of children.

Background: It has been assumed that economically developed countries are well nourished compared to developing countries, but little is known about how economic status affects dietary micronutrient intake in the future childbearing generation.

Objective: We analyzed the trend of dietary micronutrient adequacy in young adults in Japan, as one of the representative countries with advanced dietary habits and economic progress.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis using 2 web-accessible databases, namely the Japanese National Health and Nutrition Survey and the World Development Indicators.

Results: Japan has been facing a progressive insufficiency of dietary vitamins A and C and iron, especially among young adults, over the past 25 years. The hidden progression of silent malnutrition has become more apparent since the 2010s, coinciding with a series of economic recessions and natural disasters.

Conclusions: Given that parental dietary habits play a critical role in ensuring a balanced diet for their children, our findings underscore the importance of proactive nutrition counseling and education, especially for young adults of childbearing age who have been identified as vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies. In line with this policy, we would like to suggest the use of digital transformation platforms as a potential solution in the future, especially for the digital native population.

Background: Cross-sectional surveys using the Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions methodology have been conducted annually in Chad since 2015 to evaluate population-level nutritional status.

Objective: This analysis characterizes national and subnational trends in child wasting and women's thinness from 2015 to 2021 in Chad and identifies risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Annual survey data with 12,000 to 15,000 households were included. Wasting was estimated for children 6 to 59 months using the WHO child growth standards, and among women 15 to 49 years, thinness was defined as mid-upper arm circumference <23 cm. Trends were stratified by agroecological zone, and chi-square tests used to assess statistical significance. Simple and multivariate logistic regression models were conducted for 2020 and 2021 to identify risk factors of wasting and thinness.

Results: About 11,958 to 17,897 children and 9883 to 15,535 women contributed values each year. National wasting and thinness rates did not significantly decrease over the 7-year period (wasting: 14.1% to 12.1%, P = .43; thinness: 15.2% to 13.4%, P = .51) and wasting rose from 2020 to 2021. The Saharan and Sahelian zones had consistently higher rates compared to the Sudanian zone. Younger age, male sex, inadequate infant and young child feeding practices, and poorer household socio-economic factors were associated with greater odds of child wasting. For women, younger age, lack of nutrition knowledge, and poorer household socio-economic factors increased the odds of thinness.

Conclusions: Undernutrition in Chad has not improved since 2015, and the COVID-19 pandemic likely exacerbated the crisis among children nationally and among women subnationally. Multisectoral approaches and regional targeting of interventions are recommended.