Effect of African Leafy Vegetables on Nutritional Status of South African School Children.

Summary

The combination of poverty-related infectious and lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases, both driven by malnutrition, causes a high burden for South Africa. Healthy and nutritious diets for populations depend on availability and accessibility of a variety of plant and animal foods, within a context that promotes and supports healthy behaviour. Food based strategies, such as supplementation, food fortification, and diversification of crops, are used to achieve optimal dietary requirements to combat malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies. A more sustainable food based strategy is the (promotion of) use of indigenous and traditional foods, such as African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs). Unfortunately, several studies from all over Africa have shown that there is a shift from traditional diets as result of the preparing techniques and the absence of women in homes. Furthermore, indigenous and traditional foods are considered as "poor people's food".

Against this background, a joint project between South Africa, Kenya and Benin is designed to fill the gaps in knowledge in these countries regarding the availability, acceptability and consumption and evidenced based benefits of foods from local biodiversity. The main aim of the study in South Africa is to provide empirical evidence of how the role of biodiversity can be translated into improved health status in contemporary poor rural and urban communities in the North West Province of South Africa. In order to achieve this it is important to gain knowledge on the possibility of using ALVs as a strategy to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies. Therefore an intervention study to determine the effect of selected ALV on the nutritional status (including zinc, iron, and vitamin A status) of school children (grade R-4) residing in contemporary poor rural community in the North West Province, South Africa has been designed.

Conditions

• Iron Status
• Vitamin A Status
• Zinc Status
• Malnutrition

Interventions

OTHER

ALV

Random allocation of children of two rural farm schools per grade to receive either 300 gram cooked ALVs and school meal starch or the normal school meal as daily meal (5 days/weeks) for 3 months.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Medical Research Council, South Africa

  collaborator OTHER

• Agricultural Research Council of South Africa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Sight and Life

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Program to Support Pro-poor Policy Development (PSPPD)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• National Research Foundation of South Africa

  collaborator OTHER

• North-West University, South Africa

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marius Smuts, PhD · North-West University

• Annamarie Kruger, PhD · North-West University

• Marinka van der Hoeven, MSc · North-West University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-02-29

Primary Completion

2012-05-31

Completion

2012-06-30

Countries

• South Africa