The food multimix concept: potential of an innovative food based approach on nutritional status in pregnant women in resource-poor communities

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVES: The food multimix (FFM)concept states that limited food resources can be combined using scientific knowledge to meet nutrient needs of vulnerable groups at low cost utilizing the ‘nutrient strengths’ of individual or candidate foods in composite recipes within a cultural context. METHODS: The method employed the food-to-food approach for recipe development using traditional food ingredients. Recipes were subjected to proximate and micronutrient analysis and optimized to meet at tleast 40% of recommended daily intakes. End products including breads, porridge and soup were developed. RESULTS: FMM products were employed in a feeding trial among 120 healthy pregnant women in Gauteng, South Africa resulting in improvements in serum iron levels from baseline values of 14.59 (=/-7.67) umol/L and 14.02 (=/-8.13) umol/L for control and intervention groups (p=0.71), to 16.03 (=/-5.67) umol/L and 18.66 (=/-9.41) umol/L (p=0.19). The increases from baseline to post-intervention were however statistically significant within groups. Similarly Mean Cell Volume values improved from baseline as well as serum ferritin and transferritin levels. CONCLUSION: The FMM concept has potential value in feeding programs for vulnerable groups including pregnant and lactating mothers.

Assessment of the nutritional value of wild leafy vegetables consumed in the Buhera District of Zimbabwe: a preliminary study

Wild leafy vegetables play a vital role in the livelihoods of many communities in Africa. The focus of this study was to investigate the nutritional value of wild vegetables commonly consumed by the people of Buhera District in the Manicaland province of Zimbabwe. A variety of vegetables including Amaranthus hybridus, Cleome gynandra, Bidens pilosa, Corchorus tridens, and Adansonia digitata were collected during a survey in Buhera District. Samples were processed employing traditional methods of cooking and drying, then subjected to proximate and micronutrient analyses. The results indicate that these vegetables were particularly high in calcium, iron, and vitamin C. Compared with Brassica napus (rape), Amaranthus hybridus contained twice the amount of calcium, with other nutrients almost in the same range. Compared with Spinacia oleracea (spinach), Amaranthus hybridus contained three times more vitamin C (44 mg/100 g). Calcium levels were 530 mg/100 g. Amaranthus hybridus was also found to contain 7, 13, and 20 times more vitamin C, calcium, and iron respectively compared with Lactuca sativa (lettuce). Cleome gynandra contained 14 mg/100 g, 115 mg/100 g, 9 mg/100 g of vitamin C, calcium, and iron respectively. Bidens pilosa was found to be a valuable source of vitamin C (63 mg/100 g), iron (15 mg/100 g), and zinc (19 mg/100 g), compared with Brassica oleracea (cabbage). The leaves of Corchorus tridens were an excellent source of vitamin C (78 mg/100 g), calcium (380 mg/100 g), and iron (8 mg/100 g). The Adansonia digitata leaves were also rich in vitamin C (55 mg/100 g), iron (23 mg/ 100 g), and calcium (400 mg/100 g). Based on these nutrient contents, the above vegetables will have potential benefits as part of feeding programmes, as well as their promotion as part of composite diet for vulnerable groups.

The ecology of Bacillus thuringiensis on the Phylloplane: colonization from soil, plasmid transfer, and interaction with larvae of Pieris brassicae

Seedlings of clover (Triflorium hybridum) were colonized by Bacillus thuringiensis when spores and seeds were co-inoculated into soil. Both a strain isolated in the vegetative form from the phylloplane of clover, 2810-S-4, and a laboratory strain, HD-1, were able to colonize clover to a density of about 1000 CFU/g leaf when seeds were sown in sterile soil and to a density of about 300 CFU/g leaf in nonsterile soil. A strain lacking the characteristic insecticidal crystal proteins produced a similar level of colonization over a 5-week period as the wild type strain, indicating that crystal production was not a mitigating factor during colonization. A small plasmid, pBC16, was transferred between strains of B. thuringiensis when donor and recipient strains were sprayed in vegetative form onto leaves of clover and pak choi (Brassica campestris var. chinensis). The rate of transfer was about 0.1 transconjugants/recipient and was dependent on the plant species. The levels of B. thuringiensis that naturally colonized leaves of pak choi produced negligible levels of mortality in third instar larvae of Pieris brassicae feeding on the plants. Considerable multiplication occurred in the excreted frass but not in the guts of living insects. Spores in the frass could be a source of recolonization from the soil and be transferred to other plants. These findings illustrate a possible cycle, not dependent on insect pathology, by which B. thuringiensis diversifies and maintains itself in nature.

The food multimix concept: new innovative approach to meeting nutritional challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa

Food insecurity, chronic hunger, starvation and malnutrition continue to affect millions of individuals throughout the developing world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa. Various initiatives by African governments and International Agencies such as the UN, the industrial nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation to boost economic development, have failed to provide the much-needed solution to these challenges. The impact of these economic shifts and the failures of structural adjustment programmes on the nutritional well-being and health of the most vulnerable members of poor communities cannot be over-emphasised. The use of ad hoc measures as an adjunct to community-based rural integrated projects have provided little success and will be unsustainable unless they are linked to harnessing available local resources. The present paper therefore focuses on exploring alternative ways of harnessing the scant agricultural resources by employing a scientific approach to food-related problem-solving. The food multimix (FMM) concept offers a scientific contribution alongside other attempts currently in use by the World Food Programme, WHO and FAO to meet the food insecurity challenges that confront most of the developing world in the twenty-first century. It is an innovative approach that makes better use of traditional food sources as a tool for meeting community nutritional needs. The FMM concept employs a food-based approach using traditional methods of food preparation and locally-available, cheap and affordable staples (fruits, pulses, vegetables and legumes) in the formulation of nutrient-enriched multimixes. Developed recipes can provide >= 40% of the daily nutritional requirements of vulnerable groups, including patients with HIV/AIDS and children undergoing nutrition rehabilitation. The FMM approach can also be used as a medium- to long-term adjunct to community-based rural integration projects aimed at health improvement and economic empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa.