Utilization and Medicinal Value of Indigenous Leafy Vegetables Consumed in Urban and Peri-Urban Nairobi

Indigenous African leafy vegetables have recently been attracting researchattention not only in terms of their inherent nutrition quality but also the healing power of some of these plants. Diversification of diets through increased utilization and consumption of these vegetables would go along way in alleviating hidden hunger and malnutrition. The main objective of this survey was to determine the consumption patterns and medicinal use of indigenous African leafy vegetables by the residents of urban and peri-urban Nairobi. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted and the survey subjects included populations from all socio-economic strata and income levels. Probability proportional to size stratified sampling was used to select a representative sample of 800 households (600 urban and 200 peri-urban). Data were collected through structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and an observation checklist guide. A picture guide consisting of all foods available on the Nairobi markets was prepared, and used by the researchers to help the respondents to identify the vegetables they consumed. Ethnic origin was found to greatly influence consumption of indigenous African leafy vegetables. There was no significant relationship between household income and education level and choice or use of indigenous leafy vegetables. Some of the reasons for not consuming the vegetables included prohibitive costs and not knowing how to cook them especially those from other tribes. More than 60 percent of the respondents reported that the vegetables had a medicinal value attached to it and some were said to cure more than one disease. About half of those who used them also said the vegetables were healthy. It was concluded that dietary diversity of indigenous African leafy vegetables in addition to providing essential nutrients presumably offers broad benefits to health. The findings support interventions to promote use of indigenous African leafy vegetables as a foodbased initiative towards alleviation of micronutrient deficiencies and poverty through premium value addition incentive strategies.Key words: Indigenous Leafy Vegetables, nutritional, medicinal 

Utilization and Medicinal Value of Indigenous Leafy Vegetables Consumed

ABSTRACT Indigenous African leafy vegetables have recently been attracting research attention not only in terms of their inherent nutrition quality but also the healing power of some of these plants. Diversification of diets through increased utilization and consumption of these vegetables would go along way in alleviating hidden hunger and malnutrition. The main objective of this survey was to determine the consumption patterns and medicinal use of indigenous African leafy vegetables by the residents of urban and peri-urban Nairobi. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted and the survey subjects included populations from all socio-economic strata and income levels. Probability proportional to size stratified sampling was used to select a representative sample of 800 households (600 urban and 200 peri-urban). Data were collected through structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and an observation checklist guide. A picture guide consisting of all foods available on the Nairobi markets was prepared, and used by the researchers to help the respondents to identify the vegetables they consumed. Ethnic origin was found to greatly influence consumption of indigenous African leafy vegetables. There was no significant relationship between household income and education level and choice or use of indigenous leafy vegetables. Some of the reasons for not consuming the vegetables included prohibitive costs and not knowing how to cook them especially those from other tribes. More than 60 percent of the respondents reported that the vegetables had a medicinal value attached to it and some were said to cure more than one disease. About half of those who used them also said the vegetables were healthy. It was concluded that dietary diversity of indigenous African leafy vegetables in addition to providing essential nutrients presumably offers broad benefits to health. The findings support interventions to promote use of indigenous African leafy vegetables as a foodbased initiative towards alleviation of micronutrient deficiencies and poverty through premium value addition incentive strategies

Dietary Practices Among Adults Living with HIV and AIDS Attending Clinics at Narok County Referral Hospital, Kenya

A combination of malnutrition, Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) leads to a vicious cycle of immune malfunction, malnutrition and infectious diseases. Despite more funds being accessible for PLHIV treatment, and many of such programs having positive outcomes, HIV remains a greater basis of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of dietary intake and demographic and social economic status   among adult patients living with HIV and AIDS attending Narok County Referral Hospital. The study adopted cross-sectional analytical design. Purposive sampling was used to select Narok county referral hospital, the PLHIV attending the comprehensive care clinic at the hospital and key informants. Simple random sampling was applied to select the 121 respondents from the PLHIV visiting the clinic. A structured questionnaire and anthropometric form were used to collect the data. Besides, 24-hour dietary recalls and a 7-day food frequency questionnaire were used to collect dietary data and were analyzed both descriptively and inferentially; the test of   significance was done at a significant level of 0.05. The results were used to establish the nutritional status of PLHIV clients. Secondary data of the patients was collected from their files.The study established that most of the respondents were not consuming the required level of nutrients such as fiber, fat, cholesterol, vitamins E, B1 and 2, Folic Acid, zinc and iron. This was reflected in the 7-day food frequency questionnaire which showed that most patients were not getting the required foods from all the categories considered. It was also noted that most patients had financial challenges and this influenced their dietary intake and hence nutritional status was not statistically significant among PLHIV attending Narok County referral hospital. The study concluded that the three measures of nutritional status used in this study (BMI, MUAC and WHIR) may not be adequate predictors among adult PLHIV. The results are expected to be beneficial to health facilities at the County and National levels, health partners, beneficiaries, health care workers and researchers

Body mass index vs deuterium dilution method for establishing childhood obesity prevalence, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, Tunisia and United Republic of Tanzania

Objective -- To compare the World Health Organization (WHO) body mass index (BMI)-for-age definition of obesity against measured body fatness in African children. Methods -- In a prospective multicentre study over 2013 to 2017, we recruited 1516 participants aged 8 to 11 years old from urban areas of eight countries (Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, Tunisia and United Republic of Tanzania). We measured height and weight and calculated BMI-for-age using WHO standards. We measured body fatness using the deuterium dilution method and defined excessive body fat percentage as > 25% in boys and > 30% in girls. We calculated the sensitivity and specificity of BMI z-score > +2.00 standard deviations (SD) and used receiver operating characteristic analysis and the Youden index to determine the optimal BMI z-score cut-off for classifying excessive fatness. Findings -- The prevalence of excessive fatness was over three times higher than BMI-for-age-defined obesity: 29.1% (95% CI: 26.8 to 31.4; 441 children) versus 8.8% (95% CI: 7.5 to 10.4; 134 children). The sensitivity of BMI z-score > +2.00 SD was low (29.7%, 95% CI: 25.5 to 34.2) and specificity was high (99.7%, 95% CI: 99.2 to 99.9). The receiver operating characteristic analysis found that a BMI z-score +0.58 SD would optimize sensitivity, and at this cut-off the area under the curve was 0.86, sensitivity 71.9% (95% CI: 67.4 to 76.0) and specificity 91.1% (95% CI: 89.2 to 92.7). Conclusion -- While BMI remains a practical tool for obesity surveillance, it underestimates excessive fatness and this should be considered when planning future African responses to the childhood obesity pandemic

Breast-, complementary and bottle-feeding practices in Kenya: stagnant trends were experienced from 1998 to 2009

The pattern of infant and young child feeding that provides the most benefit includes being put to the breast within an hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, continued breastfeeding along with complementary foods up to 2 years of age or beyond, and avoidance of any bottle-feeding. However, since there are no published data from Kenya regarding trends in these feeding practices, this research undertook time trend estimation of these feeding practices using the 1998, 2003, and 2008-2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey and also examined the multivariate relationships between sociodemographic factors and feeding practices with data from 2008 to 2009. Logistic regression was used to test the significance of trends and to analyze sociodemographic characteristics associated with feeding practices. There was a significant decline in early initiation of breastfeeding among children in Central and Western provinces and those residing in urban areas. Trends in exclusive breastfeeding showed significant improvement in most sociodemographic segments, whereas trends in complementary feeding and breastfeeding remained stable. Bottle-feeding significantly decreased among children aged 12 to 23 months, as well as those living in Coast, Eastern, and Rift Valley provinces. In the multivariate analysis, the province was significantly associated with feeding practices, after controlling for child's size, birth order, and parity. The stagnant (and in some cases worsening) trends in early initiation of breastfeeding and complementary feeding with breastfeeding paint a worrisome picture of breastfeeding practices in Kenya; therefore, efforts to promote the most beneficial feeding practices should be intensified

Utilization And Medicinal Value Of Indigenous Leafy Vegetables Consumed In Urban And Peri-Urban Nairobi

Indigenous African leafy vegetables have recently been attracting research attention not only in terms of their inherent nutrition quality but also the healing power of some of these plants. Diversification of diets through increased utilization and consumption of these vegetables would go along way in alleviating hidden hunger and malnutrition. The main objective of this survey was to determine the consumption patterns and medicinal use of indigenous African leafy vegetables by the residents of urban and peri-urban Nairobi. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted and the survey subjects included populations from all socio-economic strata and income levels. Probability proportional to size stratified sampling was used to select a representative sample of 800 households (600 urban and 200 peri-urban). Data were collected through structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and an observation checklist guide. A picture guide consisting of all foods available on the Nairobi markets was prepared, and used by the researchers to help the respondents to identify the vegetables they consumed. Ethnic origin was found to greatly influence consumption of indigenous African leafy vegetables. There was no significant relationship between household income and education level and choice or use of indigenous leafy vegetables. Some of the reasons for not consuming the vegetables included prohibitive costs and not knowing how to cook them especially those from other tribes. More than 60 percent of the respondents reported that the vegetables had a medicinal value attached to it and some were said to cure more than one disease. About half of those who used them also said the vegetables were healthy. It was concluded that dietary diversity of indigenous African leafy vegetables in addition to providing essential nutrients presumably offers broad benefits to health. The findings support interventions to promote use of indigenous African leafy vegetables as a foodbased initiative towards alleviation of micronutrient deficiencies and poverty through premium value addition incentive strategies

Effects of Nutrition Education on Nutrition Knowledge and Iron Status in Primary School Pupils of Gatanga District, Muranga Country, Kenya

School-age children are both growing and learning, and anaemia can affect cognitive function, motor performance and educational achievements of this age group. Nutrition education has not been given the priority it deserves in primary schools due to the busy school curriculum. It is in this light this study was designed for one teaching calendar year. Subjects & methods: Pupils (n=601) covering the age 11-18 years were included. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of three main Nutrition Education strategies on nutrition knowledge and iron status among primary schools children in Gatanga district. A baseline survey was conducted in 12 randomly selected schools for class six pupils and their households. Questionnaires and an interview schedule were used to collect data, with pre and post tests. The interventions schools were Mabanda, Kigio and Kirwara (experimental) and Gakurari (control school). Baseline data were analyzed by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Nutri-Survey computer packages using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The data were coded to search for emerging themes. This led to the identification of variables and concepts of iron deficiency in the children, which was crucial to the design of the corrective measures model for the interventions

Child undernutrition in Kenya: trend analyses from 1993 to 2008-09

Background: Research on trends in child undernutrition in Kenya has been hindered by the challenges of changing criteria for classifying undernutrition, and an emphasis in the literature on international comparisons of countries’ situations. There has been little attention to within-country trend analyses. This paper presents child undernutrition trend analyses from 1993 to 2008–09, using the 2006 WHO criteria for undernutrition. The analyses are decomposed by child’s sex and age, and by maternal education level, household Wealth Index, and province, to reveal any departures from the overall national trends. Methods: The study uses the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey data collected from women aged 15–49 years and children aged 0–35 months in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008–09. Logistic regression was used to test trends. Results: The prevalence of wasting for boys and girls combined remained stable at the national level but declined significantly among girls aged 0–35 months (p < 0.05). While stunting prevalence remained stagnant generally, the trend for boys aged 0–35 months significantly decreased and that for girls aged 12–23 months significantly increased (p < 0.05). The pattern for underweight in most socio-demographic groups showed a decline. Conclusion: The national trends in childhood undernutrition in Kenya showed significant declines in underweight while trends in wasting and stunting were stagnant. Analyses disaggregated by demographic and socio-economic segments revealed some significant departures from these overall trends, some improving and some worsening. These findings support the importance of conducting trend analyses at detailed levels within countries, to inform the development of better-targeted childcare and feeding interventions