No abstract

Cowpeas are grown for their leaves and grains both of which are used as relish or side dishes together with the staple food. Little information is available on the nutritional quality of local and improved cowpea varieties grown in Tanzania as well as the recipes in which they are ingredients. This study was done to investigate cowpea utilization in Iringa and Dodoma regions of Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey was carried out where a total of 517 farmers were interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Proximate and mineral composition of different varieties of cowpea grains and leaves were determined using standard AOAC methods. More than half of the households interviewed consumed cowpeas in one or more forms. Most cowpea recipes included them as relish being eaten with rice or stiff porridge (ugali), a mixture of dehulled maize and cowpea grains (kande) and cowpea buns (bagia). Improved cowpea varieties had relatively higher fat content ranging from 8 to 11.2% compared to local varieties (5.4%). Local cowpea grains had higher levels of calcium varying between 958.1 and 992.4 mg/kg than dehulled cowpea (360 to 364 mg/kg) and cowpea flour (303 to 311 mg/kg). Zinc ranged from 32.6 to 31.5 mg/kg, while iron content ranged from 27.6 to 28.9 mg/kg. Fresh cowpea leaves had the highest levels of minerals, with calcium varying between 1800.6 and 1809.6 mg/kg, zinc between 36.1 and 36.0 mg/kg and iron between 497.0 and 499.5 mg/kg. The improved cowpea varieties, IT99K-7212-2-1 (23.8 mg/kg) and IT96D-733 (21.2 mg/kg) had the highest iron content. IT99K-7-21-2-2-1 (32.2 mg/kg) and IT97K499-38 (28.3 mg/kg) had the highest zinc concentration. The bagia (cowpea buns), prepared in Dodoma had higher mineral composition, calcium (893mg/kg), zinc (13.7 mg/kg) and iron (16.3 mg/kg) compared to those prepared in Iringa; calcium (32.6mg/kg), zinc (4.96 mg/kg) and iron (5.2 mg/kg). The cowpea daily per capita consumption for the majority of the households surveyed ranged from 41 to 200 gm. The contribution of micro and macro nutrients is significant for both developed lines and local varieties but with leaves having greater mineral content than the grains; hence, promotion of consumption of the leaves alongside the grains would be of nutritional advantage. Additionally, farmers should be encouraged to plant the higher yielding cowpea varieties and preferred local varieties.

This study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status and feeding practices of <5 year children among the pastoral communities of Simanjiro district, northern Tanzania.. Face-to-face interviews with the sampled mothers were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements using weight-for-age criterion were employed to assess the nutritional status. The study showed that 31% of the children were undernourished, some (6%) of them severely. Children 2 -3 years old were the most affected. Breastfeeding duration of more than one year was common among the mothers. Fifty-four percent of the mothers weaned their children as early as two months after birth. The most common type of weaning food was maize porridge (gruel) mixed with cow's milk (46%). Generally, 87% of households were facing some degree of food insecurity where some of them either experienced food shortage for 3-4 months (40%) or reported to eat less than three meals per day (75%). An educated mother was less likely to have an undernourished child, while a child from a teenage mother was more likely to be undernourished. Small size of a household was in favour of nutrition status. There is a great need to undertake interventions through community education to rescue the situation in Simanjiro district. Efforts should also be undertaken to mobilize the community members to adopt practices that favour good nutrition of children.

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were processed by soaking, germination, autoclaving, and fermentation for incorporation into a complementary food for children. Extractability of calcium, iron, and zinc were determined by in vitro HCl-Pepsin and Pepsin-Pancreatin methods after each processing step. Germination significantly increased the in vitro extractability of these minerals, while soaking, autoclaving and fermentation showed a smaller or insignificant effect. Iron extractability was low in germinated, autoclaved and fermented millet, as determined by the pepsin-pancreatin method, but increased 6.8 times with addition of vitamin C. Phytic acid was reduced by 85 and 66% in finger millet and kidney beans, respectively, during the overall processing. These results show that various processing methods, especially germination, increase mineral extractability. Addition of vitamin C and mango could be used to enhance mineral extractabilities, thereby helping to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies in populations subsisting on these foods.

BackgroundStrategies to improve infant and young child nutrition in low- and middle- income countries need to be implemented at scale. We contextualised and packaged successful strategies into a feasible intervention for implementation in rural Tanzania. Opportunities that can optimise delivery of the intervention and encourage behaviour change include mothers willingness to modifying practices; support of family members; seasonal availability and accessibility of foods; established set-up of village peers and functioning health system. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a nutrition education package in improving feeding practices, dietary adequacy and growth as compared to routine health education.Methods/DesignA parallel cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted in rural central Tanzania in 9 intervention and 9 control villages. The control group will receive routine health education offered monthly by health staff at health facilities. The intervention group will receive a nutrition education package in addition to the routine health education. The education package is comprised of four components: 1) education and counselling of mothers, 2) training community-based nutrition counsellors and monthly home visits, 3) sensitisation meetings with health staff and family members, and 4) supervision of community-based nutrition counsellors. The duration of the intervention is 9 months and infants will be recruited at 6 months of age. Primary outcome (linear growth as length-for-age Z-scores) and secondary outcomes (changes in weight-for-length Z-scores; mean intake of energy, fat, iron and zinc from complementary foods; proportion of children consuming 4 or more food groups and recommended number of semi-solid/soft meals and snacks per day; maternal level of knowledge and performance of recommended practices) will be assessed at baseline and ages 9, 12 and 15 months. Process evaluation will document reach, dose and fidelity of the intervention and context at 8 and 15 months.DiscussionResults of the trial will provide evidence of the effectiveness of the nutrition education package in community settings of rural Tanzania. They will provide recommendations for strengthening the nutrition component of health education in child health services.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02249754, September 25, 2014.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1077) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.