Contribution of commercial infant products and fortified staple foods to nutrient intake at ages 6, 12, and 18 months in a cohort of children from a low socio-economic community in South Africa.

Abstract

Fortification of two staple foods, maize meal and wheat flour (bread), is mandatory, and commercial infant products are widely available in South Africa. Using a 24 ‐ hr recall, we determined the contribution of these foods towards nutrient intakes at ages 6( n = 715), 12 ( n = 446), and 18 ( n = 213) months in a cohort of children in a peri ‐ urban community, North West province. On the day of recall, commercial infant prod- ucts were consumed by 83% of children at 6 months, 46% at 12 months, and 15% at 18 months; fortified staples were consumed by 23%, 81%, and 96%, respectively. For consumers thereof, commercial infant products contributed 33% energy and 94% iron intakes at 6 months and 27% energy and 56% iron intakes at 12 months; nutrient densities of the complementary diet was higher than for nonconsumers for most micronutrients. For consumers of fortified staples, energy contribution thereof was 11% at 6 months versus 29% at 18 months; at 18 months, fortified staples contrib- uted > 30% of iron, zinc, vitamin A, thiamine, niacin, vitamin B6, and folate; at 12 months, nutrient densities of the complementary diet were higher for zinc, folate, and vitamin B6 but lower for calcium, iron, vitamin A, niacin, and vitamin C than non- consumers. At ages 12 and 18 months, ~75% of children had low calcium intakes. At 12 months, 51.4% of consumers versus 25.0% ( P = 0.005) of nonconsumers of forti- fied staples had adequate intakes ( > EAR) for all eight fortificant nutrients. However, despite fortification, nutrient gaps remain