The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a church-based breast cancer screening education program on mammography attainment by African American women 40 years old and older in rural Alabama. The sample consisted of 192 women who volunteered to participate in the study through 13 African American churches in a rural, economically-depressed Alabama county. The design was quasi-experimental and had some features of community-based participatory research. Churches were randomly assigned to three groups (full program, partial program and control). The full program (group educational session plus an in-home visit from a Home Health Educator) positively affected mammography attainment (38% increase from baseline to Time 2). In addition, barriers to mammography attainment were reduced for women who had not obtained a mammogram by follow-up. Community-based participatory projects in collaboration with churches and cooperative extension programs have the potential to reduce racial disparities in breast cancer in rural areas.

The Sustainable Technology for Orange and Purple Sweetpotatoes (STOPS) project, led by researchers from Tuskegee University, USA, identified gaps in the value chain from production, processing, product development to consumption of sweet potato, aimed at addressing vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and improving the health and nutritional status of vulnerable populations in rural communities in Ghana. The orange sweet potato (OSP) could be an inexpensive, year-round, rich source of β-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. The anthocyanins that account for the purple pigmentation in the purple variety are powerful antioxidants with good bioavailability to be easily absorbed by the body. The STOPS project promotes the utilization of both varieties into value-added products from the root including flour, yogurt, and bread. Sweet potato-based bread, TUO vitabread, prepared from a composited wheat flour and OSP puree at a ratio of 2.5:1 ("as-is" basis) was compared with traditional wheat (white) bread on the Ghanaian market in compositional and sensory analyses. The proximate composition (moisture, protein, fat, ash and carbohydrate by difference) and energy content were not statistically different (P>0.05), although TUO vitabread contains 18% more moisture than the white bread. The β-carotene and lutein concentrations in the OSP-based bread were approximately 6-fold higher (P=0.01). The TUO vitabread could meet 17% of the daily adequate intake of vitamin A for a 1-to 3-year-old child consuming about 50 g of the bread, but only 3% from the white bread. Consumer preference assessment of 50 undergraduate students showed a high preference for the OSP puree-based bread but further work on extension of shelf-life under ambient conditions is warranted. Thus, the inclusion of OSP in the traditional diet can be an inexpensive and year-round source of dietary β-carotene to complement the vitamin A supplementation programme to reduce VAD in children.

This study was carried out to determine the effect of natural antimicrobial washing solutions against microbial growths on fresh produce specifically strawberries. Selected washing solutions used for strawberry washing, and treatments were sterile water (control), white vinegar (VI), crude lemon juice extract (LE), VI+Origanum oil (VIO), LE+Origanum oil (LEO), and VI+LE+Origanum oil (VILEO). From the preliminary study of antimicrobial activity of washing solutions in aqueous model system tested at 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 min against S. Typhimurium, washing time was determined as 5 min to be used for this study. After the washing, strawberries were stored at 4 °C for 5 days. Results showed that all natural washing solutions exhibited inhibitory effect against total aerobic bacteria, yeast and mold. On day 5, compared to the control, all washing solutions significantly reduced S. Typhimurium by 2.7 Log CFU/g (P<0.05). Color results showed that samples color were slightly changed by washing with VIO and VILEO. However, there was no significant difference in total color change on strawberries compared to the control (P>0.05). Based on the results, it is indicated that the combination of vinegar with crude lemon juice extract and essential oil might be suitable as natural sanitizer for decontamination of fresh produce.

Micronutrient deficiencies caused by lack of Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn) and Vitamin A in the human body have negative effect with regard to health issues worldwide. Imbalances of these nutrients in the human body create a significant risk of illness and mortality among children under five years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Some of the food crops that thought to reduce micronutrients include rice, sweet potato, dry bean, sorghum, corn, barley, and finger millet have been biofortified through ways of agronomic practices, conventional breeding, or modern biotechnology. Despite the fact that dry beans address Fe and Zn deficiencies based on recommended dietary allowances (RDA), they often take a long time to cook. Many communities have limited cooking resources which make them rely on burning wood, charcoal or other biofuels that require more time and money. This study identified dry bean cultivars with enhanced Fe and Zn concentration levels and fast cooking time from 200 cultivars. Experiments were conducted under a complete randomized block design with two replications, 200 cultivars, and two different agro-ecologies. Iron and Zinc concentration levels were determined from the harvested seed grains of each bean cultivar using X-Ray Fluorescence while cooking time of similar cultivars were determined using the Mattson cooker. The variation of Fe and Zn concentration was significantly different at (p<0.001) among the treatments and environments. The range was between 46.76 mg/kg to 107.25 mg/kg for Fe and 21.70 mg/kg to 42.35 mg/kg for Zn concentration. From two testing sites, the concentration of Fe was higher at Lyamungo than SARI and Zn showed inversely proportional to these tested sites which means that the environment and soils were not homogenous in terms of soil health. The highest water uptake was 61.54% and the lowest was 3.70% and the higher the water uptake the lower the cooking time. Fast cooking time was ~15 min and the longest was ~76 min. Small seed-sized cultivars showed fast cooking time than large-seeded. These two traits in identified cultivars will enhance dry bean consumption, which will contribute to alleviating micronutrient deficiencies in this global growing population.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a public health problem in Ghana. Research on the orange flesh sweet potato root has been given prominence because of its high β - carotene content as a means to enhance the nutritive value and vitamin A content of the traditional diets of Ghanaian children as a long -term intervention towards combating VAD. Two Ghanaian cereal -legume weaning foods: roasted maize- soy blend and fermented maize -soy blend were added to Orange Flesh Sweet potato (O FS) flour from the variety, Beauregard, to develop four weaning food formulations . To each product formulation preparation, 25% and 50% OFS flour was added to the basic cereal - legume meals , and mixed thoroughly. The four weaning formulations were evaluated for chemical composition, sensory characteristics and consumer acceptability. All samples had a range of protein (12.1% - 15%), fat (4.8% - 6.4%), carbohydrate (71.1% – 75.1%), energy (380 - 390 kcal/100g) and minerals (calcium, iron and phosphorus) to ensure good nutrient density, while the moisture content was low (5.3% - 6.1%) for storage stability. The contribution of β -carotene ( 55.18 –115.55 ug/g) by the OFS in the formulations further enhanced the nutritive value of all the blends and is enough to meet the daily β -carotene needs of the children ( 1-6 yrs of 400 -450ug/100g). A higher level of β -carotene was seen in the roasted maize meal weaning foods which make s them a better potential blend for combating VAD. Also, sensory evaluation of the products indicated the highest consumer acceptability score (87%) for the roasted maize meal porridge formulation containing 25% OFS . It is, therefore , concluded that OFS flour has the potential to be used at 25% replacement level in the soy- fortified roasted maize meal formulation, and OFS is a useful ingredient with the potential to improve the β -carotene or vitamin A content of such formulations . This will help alleviate vitamin A deficiency of children in Ghana and other countries with similar problems . It is , therefore, recommended that the orange flesh sweet potato flour be used by mothers as an entry point for enhancing the traditional weaning food preparations .