2020, VOL. 6 ISSUE 1, PART B
Complementary foods: A review on types, techniques and nutritional content
Author(s): Manisha Dutta and Manisha Sharma
Abstract:
During infancy, adequate nutrition is essential for healthy growth and development of infants. Breastfeeding provides the ideal food during the first 6 months of life. Complementary feeding starts when breast milk is no longer sufficient by itself, where the target age is for 6–23 months. The gap between nutritional requirement and amount obtained from breast milk increases with age. Nutritional deficits during this critical period increase the risk of illness and long-term developmental impairment. Complementary foods therefore must provide relatively large proportions of micronutrients such as iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin B6. In several parts of the developing world, complementary feeding continues as a challenge to good nutrition in children. The gaps are mostly attributed to either poor dietary quality or poor feeding practices, if not both. Commercial fortified foods are often beyond the reach of the poor. Thus, homemade complementary foods remain commonly used. Even when based on an improved recipe, however, unfortified plant-based complementary foods provide insufficient key micronutrients (especially, iron, zinc, and calcium) during the age of 6–23 months. This review aims to provide an overview on the available research on CFs and its health outcomes. Studies on the fortified cereals reported improvement of iron status and possibly growth. Further large scale, multicenter trials are needed to support the current findings and to investigate the long-term benefits of these recommended CFs.
How to cite this article:
Manisha Dutta, Manisha Sharma. Complementary foods: A review on types, techniques and nutritional content. Int J Home Sci 2020;6(1):90-96.