Seasonal differences in food and nutrient intakes among young children and their mothers in rural Burkina Faso

Abstract

It is important to understand and account for seasonal variation in food and nutrient intakes when planning interventions to combat micronutrient deficiencies in resource-poor settings. The objective of the present study was to quantify food and nutrient intakes and assess the adequacy of micronutrient intakes among young children and their mothers during the lean and post-harvest (PH) seasons in rural Burkina Faso. We quantified food intakes by 24-h recall in a representative sample of 480 children aged 36–59 months and their mothers in two provinces in Western Burkina Faso. We calculated the probability of adequacy (PA) of usual intakes of ten micronutrients and an overall mean PA (MPA). Seasonal changes in nutrient intakes and PA were assessed by mixed linear regression and non-parametric tests, respectively. Energy intakes did not differ significantly between seasons for women or children, although the women's intakes were slightly higher in the PH season. Most of the micronutrient intakes were significantly higher in the PH season, with the exception of vitamin A which was lower and vitamin B12 and Zn which were similar across seasons. MPA increased significantly across seasons, from 0·26 to 0·37 for women and from 0·43 to 0·52 for children. PA of Ca, vitamin C, folate and vitamin B12 were very low. Staple grains and vegetables were major sources of micronutrients but intakes were not sufficient to meet nutrient needs for the majority of the subjects. Food-based strategies are needed to increase micronutrient intakes of women and children in Burkina Faso.

Caregivers' nutritional knowledge and attitudes mediate seasonal shifts in children's diets

“…Although our study did not investigate at individual level the direction of changes in intakes, we assume that, because on overall there was a decrease in the quality of the diet of the children from plenty season to lean season, this dietary change was rather a decrease. Other similar recent studies (Arsenault et al, ; M'Kaibi et al, ) and a recent meta‐analysis (Stelmach‐Mardas et al, ) have constantly reported increase in intakes from lean to plenty seasons. It is on this basis that we conclude that increasing nutritional knowledge would lead to relatively better and stable nutrient intakes and nutritional outcomes.…”

Lactic acid fermentation as a tool for increasing the folate content of foods

“…The median probability of adequate folate intake was zero for women in both the lean and post-harvest seasons, and for children during the lean season, but the median probability of adequate folate intake rose to 0.98 in children in the post-harvest season (Arsenault et al, 2014). Folate intake in men and women in Ireland was assessed through a food frequency questionnaire and showed that 40% of the Irish population is below the recommended dietary allowance for folate (Harrington et al, 2008).…”

“…To our knowledge, no global data are available on the prevalence of folate deficiency worldwide, although the deficiency has been detected in countries as different as Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Iran, Ireland, Thailand and United States (Arsenault et al, 2014;Assantachai and Lekhakula, 2007;Brunst et al, 2014;Harrington et al, 2008;Rosenthal et al, 2015;Sedehi, 2013 …”

Evaluation of the international standardized 24-h dietary recall methodology (GloboDiet) for potential application in research and surveillance within African settings

“…To address this issue, some researchers reported the distribution of HHMs beforehand by field enumerators, and asked the participants to serve individual portions [40, 41]. However, Kigutha [42] hypothesized that this might affect eating habits of the subjects, and therefore introduce biases in individual intake estimation.…”