Consuming cassava as a staple food places children 2-5 years old at risk for inadequate protein intake, an observational study in Kenya and Nigeria

Nutrition Journal

Research

Rachel Amthor¹  Mark Manary¹  Kevin Stephenson¹  Busie Maziya-Dixon²  Sally Mallowa³  Simon Gichuki³  Rhoda Nungo³  Ada Mbanaso⁴ 

[1] Department of Pediatrics, St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, USA;International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria;Kenya Agricultural Research Insititute, Kakamega and Nairobi, Kenya;National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria;

关键词: Nigeria;    Cassava;    Protein Intake;    Dietary Diversity;    Dietary Energy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2891-9-9

 received in 2009-09-11, accepted in 2010-02-26,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundInadequate protein intake is known to be deleterious in animals. Using WHO consensus documents for human nutrient requirements, the protein:energy ratio (P:E) of an adequate diet is > 5%. Cassava has a very low protein content. This study tested the hypothesis that Nigerian and Kenyan children consuming cassava as their staple food are at greater risk for inadequate dietary protein intake than those children who consume less cassava.MethodsA 24 hour dietary recall was used to determine the food and nutrient intake of 656 Nigerian and 449 Kenyan children aged 2-5 years residing in areas where cassava is a staple food. Anthropometric measurements were conducted. Diets were scored for diversity using a 12 point score. Pearson's Correlation Coefficients were calculated to relate the fraction of dietary energy obtained from cassava with protein intake, P:E, and dietary diversity.ResultsThe fraction of dietary energy obtained from cassava was > 25% in 35% of Nigerian children and 89% of Kenyan children. The mean dietary diversity score was 4.0 in Nigerian children and 4.5 in Kenyan children, although the mean number of different foods consumed on the survey day in Nigeria was greater than Kenya, 7.0 compared to 4.6. 13% of Nigerian and 53% of Kenyan children surveyed had inadequate protein intake. The fraction of dietary energy derived from cassava was negatively correlated with protein intake, P:E, and dietary diversity. Height-for age z score was directly associated with protein intake and negatively associated with cassava consumption using regression modeling that controlled for energy and zinc intake.ConclusionsInadequate protein intake was found in the diets of Nigerian and Kenyan children consuming cassava as a staple food. Inadequate dietary protein intake is associated with stunting in this population. Interventions to increase protein intake in this vulnerable population should be the focus of future work.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Stephenson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.