Journal of Nutrition Research
An official journal of IAPEN India association

Abstract

Under nutrition in children is a widespread health problem in our country. ICDS that addresses the problem of malnutrition has been unsuccessful even after three decades of implementation. Amrutham nutrimix - a nutritious supplementary food given for malnourished children is not utilized due to monotony in its preparation. Hence an attempt was made to formulate nutritious amrutham based recipes. Twenty common recipes including sweet dishes and savories were prepared. Acceptability of all the developed products was assessed by a taste panel. Iron and protein content was analysed for the 6 most accepted products. All the formulated products were affordable and ranged from 50p (murukku) to Rs.3/-(sweet balls) per 100g. The recipes were displayed and popularized among young mothers as they are the prime caregivers of young toddlers and are willing to change food behavior for the welfare of their children. Recipes and its health benefits were discussed with the participants. The education program was very effective in imparting nutrition knowledge as there was significance in the pre and post test scores. Hence, amrutham nutrimix can be an affordable and acceptable nutritional substitute to WHO recommended ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) especially when used in diverse forms as suggested in the current study.

Keywords: Amrutham nutrimix, Malnutrition, SAM, RUTF