Dietary Intakes and Nutritional Status of Mother-Child (6-23 Months Old) Pair Targeted through the "Organic Residual Products for Biofortified Foods for Africa Project" in Rural Area in Senegal

Background: Despite micronutrient supplementation and food fortification strategies carried out for decades, micronutrient deficiencies remain prevalent among children under 5 years old in rural area in Senegal. The OR4FOOD project was implemented as a preventive and long-term approach to reduce malnutrition through biofortification. Objective: We aimed to assess the baseline dietary intakes and nutritional status of the mother-child (6-23 months old) pair in a rural community in Senegal. Methods: Dietary intakes were assessed using dietary recall questionnaires and weight food records. All foods and beverages consumed from waking to bedtime were quantified, and nutrient intakes were calculated. The nutritional status was measured by anthropometry. Results: Results showed that 77.2% of children had low dietary diversity score. Only 18% of them received an appropriate complementary feeding according to the minimum acceptable diet. Cereals and legumes were among the most consumed food groups, whereas orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) and animal food products were rarely consumed. Median dietary intakes of iron, zinc, and vitamin A were lower than the recommended dietary allowances. Acute malnutrition and stunting affected 14.6% and 16.9% of children, respectively. Overall, 20.8% of mothers were underweighted, and overweight/obesity affected 23.1% of them. Conclusion: Malnutrition remains prevalent in rural areas of Senegal and affects both mothers and children. Furthermore, their nutrient requirements were not covered by the diet. Millet and cowpea being widely consumed, optimizing their iron and zinc content through biofortification and the introduction of OFSP might improve micronutrient intakes and would be promising strategies to prevent child malnutrition

Agronomic performances and Nutritional Assessment of Three Sweet Potato Varieties (Ipoma batatas (L) Lam.) Introduced in an Agro-ecological Zone of Groundnut Basin in Senegal

peer reviewe

Effect of cultivation practices on the quality of onion bulbs (Allium cepa L.) produced at two sites in northern Senegal: Evaluation of morphological and physicochemical parameters

In Senegal, onions (Allium cepa L.) are an important and widely consumed crop. Several varieties and speculations are cultivated, with yields and bulbs qualities depending on technical itineraries and cultivation areas. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of onion bulbs produced at the Kalassane and Nguéthioro sites, using morphological and physicochemical parameters. To this end, an optimized treatment based on the “Société Nationale d’Aménagement et d’Exploitation des terres du Delta” (SAED) technical data sheet, requiring water and fertilizer inputs to be controlled (4455.4 m3 of water/ha, 9 kg/9 m2 of organic matter applied before sowing and 224 g/m2 of N- P-K applied in 4 inputs), another based on the farmers' method using excessive quantities of water and fertilizers (6526.1 m3 water/ha, 12 kg/9 m2 organic matter applied after sowing and 748 g/m2 N-P-K applied in 5 applications), and their combinations were applied on Kalassane. Next, the best method for ensuring quality bulbs at Kalassane was also tested at Nguéthioro. The results show that at Kalassane, onion bulbs from the optimized method are small (67.96 ± 14.40 g) and less waterlogged (Wc 85.44 % ± 0.71, aw 0.83 ± 0.01), with a high total polyphenol content (7.01 mg/100 g ± 0.01), in contrast to those from the farmers’ method, which are 100.80 g ± 14.22; 87.14 % ± 0.69; 0.91 ± 0.01 and 2.11 mg/100 g ± 0.01 respectively. In short, this study leads to the conclusion that optimized practice is the best treatment guaranteeing better quality. In addition, the optimized method showed a difference between the results for the two sites. In the future, repeating this experiment coupled with edaphic characteristics will enable us to determine the influence of soil on the physicochemical and nutritional quality of onions

Additional file 1 of Assessment of ultra processed foods consumption in Senegal: validation of the Nova-UPF screener

Supplementary Material 1: Table 1: Dietary share of ultra-processed foods calculated by the 24-hour dietary recall according to the Nova score. Senegal (n = 301), 2021. Table 2: Distribution of Men (%) by UPF energy contribution quintiles (from 24-hour dietary recall) and Nova-UPF score quintiles. Table 3: Distribution of Women (%) by UPF energy contribution quintiles (from 24-hour dietary recall) and Nova-UPF score quintile