Calculator for inadequate micronutrient intake for Ethiopia (CIMI-Ethiopia): Validation of the software for lactating mothers and their children under 2 years.

Early identification of inadequate intake of nutrients from a person's diet is usually crucial to prevent the development of micronutrient malnutrition. However, there is no single dietary assessment tool for Ethiopia that can assess the nutrient intake of a person from the type of food she or he consumed with a given amount. Therefore, the Calculator for Inadequate Micronutrient Intake (CIMI) application was adapted in consideration of food and nutrition contexts in Ethiopia and validated for its suitability to compute nutrient intake and identify nutrient intake inadequacy. For this, a 24-h recall quantitative dietary data of children aged 12-23 months (n = 781) and lactating mothers (n = 1086) were collected between February 15 and 30, 2017, from rural Genta Afeshum district, Tigray region, Ethiopia. An individual nutrient intake was estimated by calculating using CIMI-Ethiopia and also by NutriSurvey (NS) software for comparison. The average (mean and median) intake of energy and most nutrients and the prevalence of inadequacy calculated by the two software for the children aged 12-23 months and lactating mothers were comparable, except that of the vitamin A. The correlation coefficients for the intake results calculated by CIMI-Ethiopia and NS were between 0.85 and 0.97 for the children and between 0.5 and 0.96 for the lactating mothers' group. Most of the mean intake differences calculated by the two methods were within the acceptable limits, except for the vitamins A, D, and B12 in the Bland-Altman plots. CIMI-Ethiopia is very sensitive to identifying energy, protein, and selected micronutrients inadequacy included in this study, both for the lactating mothers (84.1%-100%) and 12-23-month-old children (77.6%-100%) group. Our results showed that CIMI-Ethiopia estimates the energy and nutrient intake, and can be also used as a screening tool to identify energy, protein, and selected micronutrients inadequacy from an individual woman's and child's diet in rural Tigray, Ethiopia.

Validation of the CIMI-Ethiopia Program and Seasonal Variation in Maternal Nutrient Intake in Enset (False Banana) Growing Areas of Southern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Tools for the rapid and accurate analysis of nutrient intakes from diets of individuals in Southern Ethiopia are lacking. The Calculator of Inadequate Micronutrient Intake program for Ethiopia (CIMI-Ethiopia) has been developed to overcome this problem. CIMI-Ethiopia also computes protein and energy intakes from the diet. The objectives of the current study were to validate CIMI-Ethiopia for the dietary pattern of Southern Ethiopia, and assess the nutrient intakes in postharvest dry and lean wet seasons. METHODS: 24-h dietary recall (24HR) data was collected from 578 women of a reproductive age in postharvest dry and lean wet seasons in 2017. For analysis, 24HR data was entered into NutriSurvey (NS), which was the reference nutrition software, and then into CIMI-Ethiopia. For validation, the mean and standard deviation (SD) of the difference between CIMI-Ethiopia and NS were computed. The percentage of participants with an inadequate intake was calculated. The correlation between CIMI-Ethiopia and NS results was determined. The nutrient intakes in postharvest dry and lean seasons were compared. RESULTS: Among the nutrients, pantothenic acid, vitamin B1, and protein showed a very high accuracy in CIMI-Ethiopia calculation (|difference (D)| < 5.0% of the NS result). Nutrients with a good accuracy (|D| = 5%-15%) were iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and energy. The accuracy for calcium, niacin, and vitamin A was moderate (|D| = 15%-30%). The intakes calculated by CIMI-Ethiopia and NS of iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, B-complex vitamins, vitamin A, protein, and energy were highly correlated (r = 0.85-0.97, p < 0.001). NS analysis identified a significant reduction in the mean intake of iron; zinc; magnesium; pantothenic acid; vitamin B1, B12, and D; protein; and energy in the lean wet season; however, calcium and vitamin A intake increased. CONCLUSIONS: It has been found that CIMI-Ethiopia is a valid tool for estimating nutrient intakes at an individual level in Southern Ethiopia. The study demonstrated a decline in intakes of iron; zinc; magnesium; pantothenic acid; vitamin B1, B12, and D; protein; and energy in the lean wet season. This result provides some hint for fortification and supplementation programs that aim to combat maternal malnutrition in rural Southern Ethiopia.

Design and validation of a program to identify inadequate intake of iron, zinc, and vitamin A.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to create an innovative, easy-to-use, and informative web-based application system to calculate the iron, zinc, and vitamin A intake in comparison to the recommended nutrient intake (RNI). METHODS: Food survey data on commonly consumed Indonesian foods (122 foods) were recorded from 68,800 households. The data were used to extract 13 relevant food groups representing typical Indonesian dietary patterns and were incorporated into the development of new software called the Calculator of Inadequate Micronutrient Intake (CIMI). To validate, 24-h dietary recall data of children (n = 118) and adult women (n = 124) from Indonesia were collected and analyzed using CIMI and Nutrisurvey (NS) and the results were analyzed. RESULTS: CIMI calculates the absolute intake of energy, macronutrients, retinol, ß-carotene, retinol equivalents, iron, and zinc. The percentages of RNI fulfillment with regard to age and sex are presented. The bioavailability levels of iron and zinc are considered. Validation showed that results of CIMI and NS were comparable with regard to the average intake and range of data distribution ratio. Due to bioavailability factors, more participants who had intake of iron (adult group) and zinc (both groups) below the cutoff were detected by CIMI. The range of correlation coefficient of NS and CIMI were from 0.889 (energy) to 0.713 (iron) in the children's group and from 0.919 (protein) to 0.686 (vitamin A) in the adult group. CONCLUSION: CIMI is a simple and rapid tool that calculates energy and nutrient intake, and also the percentage of nutrient fulfillment in comparison with the dietary recommendation.

More than the sum of its parts? Nutrition in Alzheimer's disease.

The aim of this article is to emphasize the importance of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies in Alzheimer's disease and discuss recent supplementation trials. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease with increasing socio-economic impact. It leads to cognitive decline over the years, finally resulting in brain atrophy and gradually destroying a person's ability to learn, reason, make judgments, and communicate. Most of the cases are sporadic and risk factors evolve. There is evidence that malnutrition, oxidative stress, and homocysteine-related vitamins play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. A plethora of epidemiologic studies have explored the associations between nutrients and AD. In addition, more and more data from recent trials are evolving to analyze the impact of micronutrient supplementation in AD and incipient AD concerning B vitamin status and antioxidants. Available data do not support definitive conclusions regarding specific recommendations on micronutrient supplementation for the prevention or treatment of AD; however, more data from prospective trials are needed. Approaches with multiple nutritional components might be promising.

Bioactive compounds in cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L.) kernels: effect of different shelling methods.

In the present study, the effects of various conventional shelling methods (oil-bath roasting, direct steam roasting, drying, and open pan roasting) as well as a novel "Flores" hand-cracking method on the levels of bioactive compounds of cashew nut kernels were investigated. The raw cashew nut kernels were found to possess appreciable levels of certain bioactive compounds such as beta-carotene (9.57 microg/100 g of DM), lutein (30.29 microg/100 g of DM), zeaxanthin (0.56 microg/100 g of DM), alpha-tocopherol (0.29 mg/100 g of DM), gamma-tocopherol (1.10 mg/100 g of DM), thiamin (1.08 mg/100 g of DM), stearic acid (4.96 g/100 g of DM), oleic acid (21.87 g/100 g of DM), and linoleic acid (5.55 g/100 g of DM). All of the conventional shelling methods including oil-bath roasting, steam roasting, drying, and open pan roasting revealed a significant reduction, whereas the Flores hand-cracking method exhibited similar levels of carotenoids, thiamin, and unsaturated fatty acids in cashew nuts when compared to raw unprocessed samples.