title: Applying the food multimix concept for sustainable and nutritious diets.
abstract: Despite a rich and diverse ecosystem, and biodiversity, worldwide, more than 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition or hidden hunger. Of major concern are a degradation of our ecosystems and agricultural systems which are thought to be unsustainable thereby posing a challenge for the future food and nutrition security. Despite these challenges, nutrition security and ensuring well balanced diets depend on sound knowledge and appropriate food choices in a complex world of plenty and want. We have previously reported on how the food multimix (FMM) concept, a food-based and dietary diversification approach can be applied to meet energy and micronutrient needs of vulnerable groups through an empirical process. Our objective in this paper is to examine how the concept can be applied to improve nutrition in a sustainable way in otherwise poor and hard-to-reach communities. We have reviewed over 100 FMM food recipes formulated from combinations of commonly consumed traditional candidate food ingredients; on average five per recipe, and packaged as per 100 g powders from different countries including Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabawe and Southern Africa, India, Mexico, Malaysia and the UK; and for different age groups and conditions such as older infants and young children, pregnant women, HIV patients, diabetes and for nutrition rehabilitation. Candidate foods were examined for their nutrient strengths and nutrient content and nutrient density of recipes per 100 g were compared with reference nutrient intakes for the different population groups. We report on the nutrient profiles from our analysis of the pooled and age-matched data as well as sensory analysis and conclude that locally produced FMM foods can complement local diets and contribute significantly to meet nutrient needs among vulnerable groups in food-insecure environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Health,School of Public Health,University of Health and Allied Sciences,Ho,Volta Region,Ghana.
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Zotor
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Care,University of Chester,Chester CH1 4BJ,UK.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ellahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences,University of Greenwich,Medway,Kent ME4 4TB,UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amuna
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D001208:Asia; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008800:Mexico; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009753:Nutritive Value; D011203:Poverty; D011208:Powders; D011247:Pregnancy; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013649:Taste; D006113:United Kingdom; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients; D011208:Powders
keywords: Candidate foods; FMM food multimix; Food multimix; Food security; INQ index of nutritional quality; Nutrition interventions; Resource-poor; Sustainable