Efficacy of the African Breadfruit (Treculia africana) in the Nutritional Rehabilitation of Children with Protein-energy Malnutrition

Abstract

Summary: One hundred and fifty children with mild to moderate malnutation (Group A) aged six to 66 months were recruited from four semi-urban/rural communities within Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State. They were offered supplementary feeds of African breadfruit (Treculia africana) porridge for a period of 12 weeks. Their anthropometric response to the feeds was compared with that of controls who were not offered the feeds and consisting of (a) 106 well-nourished children of the same ages recruited from within the same communities (Group B), and (b) 53 other children (Group C) of similar ages with similar grades of malnutrition. Observed prevalence of malnutrition in the study population ranged between 51.5 per cent and 64 per cent. No case of, kwashiorkor was observed. During the study period, the mean weight gain of children in Group A was at 2.78kg + 1.16, significantly greater than corresponding figures of 0.18kg +. 1.26 and 0.25kg $ 0.91 in Groups B and C, respectively (p = 0.0000). However, the nutritional supplementation did not significantly affect the heights (p = 1.000). An improvement in the mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) was observed in children in group A who gained a mean of 1.10cm during the study, this gain was 16 times and twice the mean gains by Groups B and C, respectively. The breadfruit porridge was found to be acceptable to 96.7 per cent of group A children, and no adverse reactions were reported or observed. African breadfruit is thus suggested as a good, locally available and acceptable food of high nutritive value in the nutritional rehabilitation of children with mild to moderate protein-energy malnutrition.