Effect of consumption of foods fortified with baobab fruit pulp and moringa leaf powder on the nutritional status of children

Malnutrition exists in various forms and affects all countries in the World. Despite several intiatives, the situation remains critical in sub saharan Africa. Non timber forest products (NTFP) are known to be very rich in nutrients but are usually not used the right way. Baobab (Adansonia digitata) and moringa (Moringa oleifera) are two of these products that are commonly used by the Beninese population partly for their nutritional quality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of food to food fortification formulas containing baobab fruit pulp and/or moringa leaf powder on the nutritional status of children aged 6 to 59 months. A literature review was performed on food interventions to make the link with interventions using food to food fortified formula. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with two case groups and one control group, among children with moderate acute malnutrition in the three biogeographic zones (North, South, and Center) of Benin. Anthropometric parameters (weight and height) as well as age and serum ferritin levels are being measured. Both cases and control groups will be measured at three points at baseline, mid-term and at the end of the intervention. MiniTab 14 Software will be used for statistical analysis including analysis of variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA test was used to evaluate the difference among the three groups at baseline, midterm and post-intervention and for each group, between baseline and post-intervention period. Variables of interest are weight change, wasting prevalence and iron deficiency prevalence. The present paper presents results of the literature review performed on food interventions. It showed that both classical interventions and interventions using food to food fortification formula improve the nutritional status of children. In classical nutritional interventions, children generally have speedy recovery because of bioavailability of the nutrients. In contrast to the classical interventions, the organoleptic quality of the staple food is most of the time accepted by the subjects during the interventions using food to food fortification formula.