Fonio as a staple food in West Africa: An approach to upgrade nutritional value

Fonio (Digitaria exilis) is the most ancient West African traditional cereal, used as a staple food particularly during the food shortage periods. The potential of the grain for contributing to food security, while alleviating nutritional deficiencies among vulnerable groups of West African communities has been reconsidered. The value chain approach for nutritional goals has been explored for upgrading the nutritional value of fonio products. In the present research we assessed the acceptability of fonio and tested the effect of degrading phytic acid on iron absorption from fonio meals. Subjects involved were women of reproductive age randomly selected in Bamako, the capital city of Mali (108 women aged 15-49 year-old from 3-stage cluster sampling procedure), and Cotonou, the largest city of Benin (16 women aged 18-30 year-old from simple random sampling for iron absorption study). Data collection included an acceptability survey based on a behavioral model; and an iron absorption study using stable isotopes in a cross-over design. In the used behavioral model, fonio consumption was strongly predicted by intention to consume (r = 0.78, P < 0.001). Intention to consume fonio in urban areas was influenced by positive beliefs and attributes such as the good cooking, organoleptic and nutritional qualities, softness, easy digestibility, healthfulness, contribution to weight maintenance, appetite stimulation, contribution to meal variation, and traditional value of fonio (â = 0.32, P < 0.05). Subjective norms, namely husbands’ opinion, were also more likely to motivate intention to consume fonio (r = 0.26, P < 0.001). The model also allowed identifying potential barriers to fonio consumption, being seasonal shortage, time-consuming processing and cooking, the high costs of fonio products in urban markets, and the lack of skills in cooking fonio (â = -0.72, P < 0.05). The obstacles appeared to have a significant interaction between intention to consume and fonio consumption. This indicated that the more the women have intention to consume fonio, the more likely they will face some obstacles for consuming fonio. Adding wheat to fonio porridge reduced phytate-toiron molar ratio from 23.7:1 to 2.7:1. Iron fortification of the fonio-wheat porridge decreased the molar ratio to 0.3:1. Mean (95% CI) iron absorption ratio from single fonio porridge and fonio-wheat porridge was 2.6 (0.8-7.8) and 8.3 (3.8-17.9) respectively. Fractional iron absorption from fonio-wheat porridge was 3.2-fold higher compared to single fonio porridge meal (paired t test, P < 0.0001). As conclusion, the study found that consumer-oriented activities for enhancing fonio consumption should emphasize positive attitudes and opinions of men, family and neighbors, while strengthening skills of women in cooking good quality fonio meals. The use of locally available and widely used cereals as wheat for dephytinisation is a promising practice that needs to be further explored in developing countries with other traditional cereal-based porridges. The technical feasability of this technology with regard to users’ compliance need to be further explored in developing countries household conditions.