Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences

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The Contributions of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato to Household Vitamin A Intake

Received: 05 September 2019    Accepted: 04 October 2019    Published: 21 October 2019
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Abstract

The prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) remains high in Uganda among children under 5 years and women of reproductive age. The readily bio-available sources of vitamin A such as liver, organ meats and fish oils are too expensive for the majority of the population to consume regularly. Sweet potato is a major staple food in the country and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) being rich in beta-carotene offers an alternative source of Vitamin A to the low income section of the population. This study was conducted to assess the contributions of OFSP to household vitamin A intake in Gulu district, Northern Uganda. The cross sectional study was conducted over a period of six months in purposively selected four rural sub-counties and the Municipality. A total of 250 randomly selected households participated in the study. Using Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ), data on the contributions of different food items to Vitamin A intake was collected. OFSP contributed 68% of the daily Vitamin A intake at household level. However, OFSP alone is not adequate to meet the vitamin A requirements of all household members. It is therefore important for households to include other sources of Vitamin A in their daily diets to adequately cater for the vitamin A requirements of all its members. To realize the full potential of OFSP or any other food based intervention in addressing malnutrition in a population, it is important to consider other factors such as the health status of individuals, access to health services, sanitation, feeding and care practices since they all play critical roles in determining the overall effect of the intervention on the population.

DOI 10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11
Published in Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences (Volume 7, Issue 5, September 2019)
Page(s) 66-72
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Vitamin A Deficiency, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, Children Under 5 Years, Women of Reproductive Age

References
[1] WHO and FAO, “Vitamin and mineral requirements in human nutrition Second edition,” World Health Organization, pp. 1–20, 2004.
[2] C. Hotz et al., “Introduction of -Carotene-Rich Orange Sweet Potato in Rural Uganda Resulted in Increased Vitamin A Intakes among Children and Women and Improved Vitamin A Status among Children,” Journal of Nutrition, vol. 142, no. 10, pp. 1871–1880, 2012.
[3] P. J. van Jaarsveld, M. Faber, S. A Tanumihardjo, P. Nestel, C. J. Lombard, and A. J. S. Benadé, “Beta-carotene-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato improves the vitamin A status of primary school children assessed with the modified-relative-dose-response test.,” The American journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 1080–1087, 2005.
[4] G. Stathers, T., Mkumbira, J., Low, J., Tagwireyi, J., Munyua, H., Mbabu, A. and Mulongo, Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) INVESTMENT IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE. International Potato Center, Nairobi, Kenya, 2015.
[5] Uganda Bureau of Statistics and ICF International Inc, “2011 UGANDA Demography and Health Survey: Addendum to Chapter 11,” pp. 1–9, 2012.
[6] B. J. Burri, “Evaluating Sweet Potato as an Intervention Food to Prevent Vitamin A Deficiency,” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, vol. 10, pp. 118–130, 2011.
[7] WHO, “Global prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in populations at risk 1995-2005,” World Health Organization Global Database on Vitamin A Deficiency, vol. 2009, 2009.
[8] G. Tang, “Bioconversion of dietary provitamin A carotenoids to vitamin A in humans,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 91, pp. 1468–1473, 2010.
[9] Harvestplus, “This is what we found. Findings from a HarvestPlus Project,” 2012.
[10] M. Faber, S. M. Laurie, and P. J. Van Jaarsveld, “Total β -carotene content of orange sweetpotato cultivated under optimal conditions and at a rural village,” African Journal Of Biotechnology, vol. 12, no. 25, pp. 3947–3951, 2013.
[11] J. Low, R. Kapinga, D. Cole, C. Loechl, J. Lynam, and M. Andrade, “CHALLENGE THEME PAPER 3: NUTRITIONAL IMPACT WITH ORANGE-FLESHED SWEETPOTATO (OFSP) Jan Low, Regina Kapinga, Donald Cole, Cornelia Loechl, John Lynam, and Maria Andrade Overall Challenge:,” pp. 73–105, 2015.
[12] J. Low, T. Walker, and R. Hijmans, “The potential impact of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes on vitamin A intake in Sub-Saharan Africa,” The VITAA Project, vitamin A and orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes in Sub-Saharan Africa, no. May, pp. 1–16, 2001.
[13] G. L. Kennedy, T. Ballard, and M. Dop, Guidelines for measuring household and individual dietary diversity. 2010.
[14] N. A. L. United States Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, “National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference,” 2016. [Online]. Available: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/.
[15] UBOS, “The National Population and Housing Census 2014- Main Report, Kampala, Uganda,” pp. 1–209, 2016.
Author Information
  • Department of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda

  • Department of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda

  • Department of Agronomy, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda

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    Alfred Komakech, Okello-Uma Ipolto, Julius Carlos Woodoboma Odongo. (2019). The Contributions of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato to Household Vitamin A Intake. Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 7(5), 66-72. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11

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    ACS Style

    Alfred Komakech; Okello-Uma Ipolto; Julius Carlos Woodoboma Odongo. The Contributions of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato to Household Vitamin A Intake. J. Food Nutr. Sci. 2019, 7(5), 66-72. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11

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    AMA Style

    Alfred Komakech, Okello-Uma Ipolto, Julius Carlos Woodoboma Odongo. The Contributions of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato to Household Vitamin A Intake. J Food Nutr Sci. 2019;7(5):66-72. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11,
      author = {Alfred Komakech and Okello-Uma Ipolto and Julius Carlos Woodoboma Odongo},
      title = {The Contributions of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato to Household Vitamin A Intake},
      journal = {Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences},
      volume = {7},
      number = {5},
      pages = {66-72},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20190705.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfns.20190705.11},
      abstract = {The prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) remains high in Uganda among children under 5 years and women of reproductive age. The readily bio-available sources of vitamin A such as liver, organ meats and fish oils are too expensive for the majority of the population to consume regularly. Sweet potato is a major staple food in the country and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) being rich in beta-carotene offers an alternative source of Vitamin A to the low income section of the population. This study was conducted to assess the contributions of OFSP to household vitamin A intake in Gulu district, Northern Uganda. The cross sectional study was conducted over a period of six months in purposively selected four rural sub-counties and the Municipality. A total of 250 randomly selected households participated in the study. Using Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ), data on the contributions of different food items to Vitamin A intake was collected. OFSP contributed 68% of the daily Vitamin A intake at household level. However, OFSP alone is not adequate to meet the vitamin A requirements of all household members. It is therefore important for households to include other sources of Vitamin A in their daily diets to adequately cater for the vitamin A requirements of all its members. To realize the full potential of OFSP or any other food based intervention in addressing malnutrition in a population, it is important to consider other factors such as the health status of individuals, access to health services, sanitation, feeding and care practices since they all play critical roles in determining the overall effect of the intervention on the population.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AU  - Alfred Komakech
    AU  - Okello-Uma Ipolto
    AU  - Julius Carlos Woodoboma Odongo
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    JO  - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences
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    AB  - The prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) remains high in Uganda among children under 5 years and women of reproductive age. The readily bio-available sources of vitamin A such as liver, organ meats and fish oils are too expensive for the majority of the population to consume regularly. Sweet potato is a major staple food in the country and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) being rich in beta-carotene offers an alternative source of Vitamin A to the low income section of the population. This study was conducted to assess the contributions of OFSP to household vitamin A intake in Gulu district, Northern Uganda. The cross sectional study was conducted over a period of six months in purposively selected four rural sub-counties and the Municipality. A total of 250 randomly selected households participated in the study. Using Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ), data on the contributions of different food items to Vitamin A intake was collected. OFSP contributed 68% of the daily Vitamin A intake at household level. However, OFSP alone is not adequate to meet the vitamin A requirements of all household members. It is therefore important for households to include other sources of Vitamin A in their daily diets to adequately cater for the vitamin A requirements of all its members. To realize the full potential of OFSP or any other food based intervention in addressing malnutrition in a population, it is important to consider other factors such as the health status of individuals, access to health services, sanitation, feeding and care practices since they all play critical roles in determining the overall effect of the intervention on the population.
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