Low-cost nutrient-dense composite flours for children aged 1-5 years developed from locally available foods

Childhood malnutrition persists in low-income countries due to inadequate diet diversity and nutrient density. For seasonal crops, consumers make food substitutions based on price variations which has dietary implications and can cause episodes of nutritional deficiencies. Locally available foodstuffs can be used to formulate low-cost nutritionally adequate food mixtures. Design-Expert® and Nutrisurvey software were used to generate nutrient-dense formulations for the dry season (n=2) and wet season (n=5) from low-cost locally available foods in Eastern Uganda (sweet potatoes, sorghum, soybeans, beans, sesame, groundnuts and maize). Composite flours of the formulations were prepared and cooked following the World Food Program (WFP) recommendations and consumer acceptability determined using a consumer panel (n=43). The most acceptable formulation for the dry season (D2) and the most acceptable formulation for the wet season (R5) were selected for the determination of functional properties (dispersibility, bulk density and water absorption index (WAI) and water solubility index (WSI)), pasting properties (peak viscosity, breakdown viscosity, final viscosity, setback viscosity and peak time), color and nutrient density (energy content, sugars, starch, protein, crude fat, fiber, ash, iron and zinc). D2 contained 25.35g of sorghum, 1.31g of soybeans, 4.34g of beans, 33.11g of sesame and 35.89g of groundnuts per 100g of formulation. R5 contained 4.95g of maize, 20.98g of sorghum, 5.49g of beans, 29.39g of sesame and 39.19g of groundnuts per 100g of formulation. The nutrient densities of D2 and R5 when cooked according to WFP recommendations were also determined. D2 and R5 had high dispersibility (77.2-76.8%), low water absorption index (1.7-2.0g/g) and high water solubility index (0.2-0.3g/g). The pasting properties indicated that the formulations form stable low viscosity pastes that can withstand breakdown during cooking and have high resistance to retrogradation on cooling. Cooked D2 (100g) contained 87.2kcal, 9.5g starch, 2.3g sugars, 5.8g protein, 1.6g fat, 1.7g fiber, 2.3mg iron and 1.6mg zinc. Cooked R5 (100g) had 71.4kcal, 7.1g starch, 2.6g sugars, 4.2g protein, 0.9g fat, 1.0g fiber, 1.9mg iron and 1.4mg zinc. The cooked samples provided more than 50% of the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for children aged 1-5 years for protein and zinc per serving (200g for children aged 1-3 years and 250g for children aged 4-5 years). Adopting formulations developed in this study can potentially contribute to reducing undernutrition in children aged 1-5 years. Key words: Low-cost nutrient-dense foods, composite flours, infant feeding, pasting properties, malnutrition