Low intake of essential amino acids and other risk factors of stunting among under-five children in Malang City, East Java, Indonesia

Nutrient Composition of Indonesian Specialty Cereals: Rice, Corn, and Sorghum as Alternatives to Combat Malnutrition

Stunted growth (stunting) caused by malnutrition is a growing concern in Indonesia. The nutritional composition of cereals is important information for improving people's nutrition. This research aimed to comparatively study the nutritional values of several Indonesian local cereal crops and provide a nutritional database for promoting local food with the aim of combating malnutrition. The cereals investigated included varieties of rice, corn, and sorghum. The nutritional analysis included ash, protein, fat, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. A purposive sampling method was performed by collecting five lots from each sampling area and forming composite samples by combining 1∼2 kg of each sample, then mixed before laboratory analysis. The results showed that colored rice, colored corn and sorghum, contain richer essential nutrients, dietary fiber, and essential amino acids compared to white rice and corn. The highest protein content was found in sorghum (13.26%), followed by corn (9.18%), and rice (8.0%). The highest energy value was also found in sorghum (380.5 kcal/100 g), followed by corn (379.9 kcal/100 g), and rice (362.1 kcal/100 g). The same sequence was seen for the mineral contents, where the zinc and iron contents were 1.57 and 2.39 mg/100 g, respectively for sorghum; 1.36 and 0.79 mg/100 g for corn; and 0.93 and 0.58 mg/100 g for rice. Accordingly, it can be concluded that sorghum has the highest nutritional value and therefore potential for combating malnutrition, while corn and rice are also highly nutritious and can be grown locally in order to combat malnutrition.

The Role of Protein Intake on the Total Milk Protein in Lead-Exposed Lactating Mothers

Protein is an essential macronutrient for the growth and development of infants. Protein levels in lactating mothers are dynamic and influenced by various factors, particularly the environment and maternal characteristics. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the complex correlation between maternal blood lead levels (BLLs), maternal diet, and total milk protein. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare total milk protein in the three groups of lead exposure, while Spearman's correlation was used to assess the correlation between maternal diet, BLLs, and total milk protein. The multivariate analysis used multiple linear regression. The results showed that the median of maternal BLLs and total milk protein were 3.3 µg/dL and 1.07 g/dL, respectively. Maternal protein intake and current BMI had a positive correlation with total milk protein, while BLLs had a negative correlation. BLLs ≥ 5 μg/dL had the most significant impact on reducing the total milk protein (p = 0.032). However, increasing maternal protein intake can effectively maintain total milk protein levels in mothers with BLLs under 5 μg/dL (p < 0.001). It is crucial to measure BLLs in lactating mothers residing in areas exposed to lead because high maternal protein intake can only maintain total milk protein levels when the BLLs are <5 μg/dL.

Analyzing Nutritional Factors that Affect Toddler’s Stunting in Malang Regency, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: The proportion of short and very short toddlers in Indonesia is 30.8%. East Java is among the 18 provinces with high prevalence (30%–<40%), having made Malang Regency included among the 100 regencies/cities prioritized for intervention. AIM: This study aimed to analyze sociodemographic and nutritional factors affecting toddler’s stunting in Malang Regency, Indonesia. DESIGN AND METHODS: A case–control analytic survey research with retrospective approach was used: An epidemiologic observation design to study the effect of exposures to diseases or other health problems occurrences. The investigation was conducted during July to August time period through observation, weight measurement and interview in order to collect the data about mother’s knowledge, childcare practices, household food security, healthcare services, access to clean water, economic and socio-cultural background, parenting practices, and causes of stunting. The data were processed using SPSS 16.0, bivariate analysis (Chi-square), and multivariate analysis using multiple logistic regression testing with odds ratio and confidence interval calculation. RESULTS: Parenting practices of the toddlers were not ideal, with only 60% of mothers had good knowledge about stunting. About 76% of the stunted toddlers’ households had insecure food availability and security. Up to 98% of the mothers with stunted toddlers received blood-boosting tablets during pregnancy from health-care services; however, interview results disclosed that they were not consumed. As many as, 98% of the households got access to clean water from Malang Municipal Waterworks and 2% from closed well. A total of 96% of the households made income fewer than Malang Regency’s minimum wage. The stunted toddlers’ households who had eating restrictions during pregnancy and breastfeeding were 13%. Most stunted toddlers as many as 76% were taken care of by their biological mothers, while the remaining 24% by grandmothers or other relatives. Thus, the causes of stunting from the most to the least dominant were as follows: Household’s income, exclusive breastfeeding, household size, father’s education, mother’s nutritional knowledge, household’s food security, mother’s level of education, toddler’s energy intake, appropriate feedings of weaning food, toddler’s fat intake, toddler’s history of infectious diseases, sociocultural background, toddler’s protein intake, mother’s occupation, household’s nutritional awareness behavior, and the completeness of immunization. CONCLUSION: Stunting main risk factors are household income, size, history of breastfeeding, father’s education and occupation. Factors which are not significantly related to stunting include household nutritional awareness and behavior, hygiene, socio-economic status, energy and micronutrients intake, toddler’s food and vitamin A compliment, toddler’s status and characteristics, and maternal health services.

The Supply of Calories, Proteins, and Fats in Low-Income Countries: A Four-Decade Retrospective Study

Over the past decades, both the quantity and quality of food supply for millions of people have improved substantially in the course of economic growth across the developing world. However, the number of undernourished people has resumed growth in the 2010s amid food supply disruptions, economic slowdowns, and protectionist restrictions to agricultural trade. Having been common to most nations, these challenges to the food security status of the population still vary depending on the level of economic development and national income of individual countries. In order to explore the long-run determinants of food supply transformations, this study employs five-stage multiple regression analysis to identify the strengths and directions of effects of agricultural production parameters, income level, price indices, food trade, and currency exchange on supply of calories, proteins, and fats across 11 groups of agricultural products in 1980-2018. To address the diversity of effects across developing nations, the study includes 99 countries of Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa categorized as low-income, lower-middle-income, and upper-middle-income economies. It is found that in low-income countries, food supply parameters are more strongly affected by production factors compared to economic and trade variables. The effect of economic factors on the food supply of higher-value food products, such as meat and dairy products, fruit, and vegetables, increases with the rise in the level of income, but it stays marginal for staples in all three groups of countries. The influence of trade factors on food supply is stronger compared to production and economic parameters in import-dependent economies irrelevant of the gross national income per capita. The approach presented in this paper contributes to the research on how food supply patterns and their determinants evolve in the course of economic transformations in low-income countries.