Orange fleshed sweet potato consumption for improved nutrition in Gairo
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Date
2017
Authors
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
In developing countries like Tanzania, vitamin A deficiency remains a public health
concern, due to monotonous, cereal-based diets that lack diversity. Evidence from study
on Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP) consumption for improved nutrition in Gairo
shows that the diets of a large percentage of households are deficient in vitamin A.
Overall objective of the study was to increase contribution of sweetpotato particularly
OFSP as a component of dietary intake on improved nutrition in Gairo district. It was
observed that there were differences in household-level 24 hours dietary recall that was
taken for two non-consecutive days (i.e., during weekday and weekend) whereas in
Meshugi was (n=42 households), Ngiloli (n=44 households) and Ihenje (n= 45
households). Of the commonly grown cultivars, Kabode and Mataya had the highest
content of β-carotene (878.31 and 426.39 µg/g) respectively and lowest were Naspot 1
and Polista (9.99 and 5.40 µg/g). The study revealed that 59.5% of the respondents’
households cultivated non-OFSP while 10.7% solely grew OFSP and 29.8% cultivated
both. Only 16% of the visited respondents had knowledge on how to store sweetpotato.
Most of complementary foods given to children aged 6-24 months did not meet their
RDA. Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) across villages during weekdays and
weekends differed statistically during weekdays (p<0.001) and during weekends
(p<0.01). There was higher variation of per capita vitamin A intake during weekdays
compared to weekends. OFSP and vitamin A food rich sources were consumed
inadequately. Results of sensory evaluation showed that, the highest overall acceptability
of the formulated food types was recorded on MAKAG2 (7.53) and the lowest (6.69)
MAG2. The study concluded that there was inadequate consumption of OFSP among
visited households and limited dietary diversity among the consumed foods. It is
recommended that OFSP should be promoted to increase consumption and advocate food
diversification.
Description
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HUMAN
NUTRITION OF THE SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE.
MOROGORO, TANZANIA. 2017
Keywords
Sweet potato consumption, Improved nutrition, Gairo, Food diversification, Orange fleshed Sweet potato, Vitamin A