Impact of Food-to-Food Fortified Cereal Products on Diet Quality in Eldoret, Kenya
Vitamin A DeficiencyIron-deficiencyThe overall hypotheses is that a product designed with optimized nutritional characteristics, based on consumer preferences and leveraging local nutrient dense ingredients, can successfully deliver nutrition through sustainable market-driven approaches. The objectives of this study will be 1) to assess the nutritional adequacy of Kenyan households with children and 2) to determine the market potential of a locally sourced and manufactured, blended fortified, cereal-based product for the improvement of micronutrient deficiencies among children aged 24-60 months. This study will simulate a market study, the investigators conducted a product launch, determined market potential based on sales, evaluated marketing strategy to increase market share, and modeled the nutritional contribution of FtFF/traditionally fortified product for iron, zinc, and vitamin A. The investigators expect to provide a throughout evaluation of a business-driven strategy (for profit, social enterprise) as a sustainable tool to decrease micronutrient deficiencies.
Liver and Bone Retinol Levels in Guatemalan Adolescents and Adults
Vitamin A DeficiencyVitamin A Toxicity1 moreGuatemala has enforced mandatory fortification of sugar with vitamin A (VA) since June 1974 and has led to a highly successful reduction in VA deficiency and associated disease. However, Ribaya-Mercado et al. 2014, estimated the biological impact of sugar fortified with retinyl palmitate that there may be a risk of chronic excess intake of preformed VA associated with programs of mass fortification. A recent food consumption survey in two departments in Guatemala found the average daily sugar intake in children under the age of two who aren´t being breastfed is 30.3 g, which translates into a daily intake of 272 μg of retinol (almost the full estimated average requirement (EAR) for that age group). Since data from the second National Survey on Micronutrients suggest a risk of VA toxicity, it is important to determine the levels of hepatic VA directly in corpses of individuals, of all ages, who have died of non-metabolic causes. Due to this, the investigators propose to assess liver and bone VA levels in combination with gene expression, histopathology and biochemical analyses, to elicit indications of hypervitaminosis A in Guatemala.
Sub Regional Micronutrient Survey in Ethiopia
Iron-deficiencyVitamin A Deficiency1 moreTo conduct a sub-regional micronutrient survey (SRMNS) assessing the prevalence of vitamin A, Zn, and Fe status in the country