Addressing child feeding concerns of women farmers in Mali: Composition and effects on child nutrition of a locally developed weaning food*

A feeding trial of a weaning food composed of a mixture of 80 percent pearl millet and 20 percent cowpea flours was conducted in two villages of the “Operation Haute Vallee” (OHV) region of central Mali. One hundred gram packets of the mixture were supplied daily for six months to mothers of 55 malnourished preschoolers (ages 6–36 months) and fed as a gruel in place of the traditional 100% pearl millet or 100% sorghum weaning food. The mixture contained 8% more protein and 46% more fat than pure millet. It was limiting in lysine and had an amino acid score of 60. The mixture was acceptable to 89% of the children and provided an estimated 29 to 44% of their daily caloric and 34% of their daily protein requirements. Mean body weight of the children increased during the study by 21%. A 10% decrease was noted in the percentage of children in the lowest centile in the distribution of weight‐for‐height centiles between the start and the end of the study when compared with a reference population. Monthly fluctua...