Nutrition-Sensitive Intervention with African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables among School-Going Children in Machakos County, Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Wakhanu, John
Nyambaka, Hudson
Nawiri, Mildred
Kimiywe, Judith
Thagana, Wilson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst
Abstract
The 2014 Kenya Demographic Health
Survey (KDHS) and Micronutrient Survey’s
report revealed malnutrition among children
aged 5-11 years in Kenya and recommended
diversified food-based intervention through
vegetable garden establishments to fight
malnutrition. School gardens growing African
Indigenous Leafy Vegetables (AILVs)
(Amaranthus cruentus and Vigna unguiculata)
were established at Kangundo and Kilalani
primary schools in Machakos County and
children aged 6-10 years, (Kangundo, N=66,
Kilalani, N=46) that met the inclusion criteria
participated as study subjects. There were two
phases, I (13 weeks) and II (12 weeks) with 4
weeks in between to enable interchange of the
role of the school as either experimental or
control. AILVs were grown in gardens of the
experimental school. Study subjects in the
experimental group were fed on the AILVs
recipe with an accompaniment of a mixture of
cooked maize grains and beans once a day, 5
days a week per phase. The control group fed
only on the accompaniment. Baseline and
endline study children’s serum Zn and Fe levels
were analyzed by Atomic Absorption
Spectroscopy while retinol and β-carotene by
High Performance Liquid Chromatography.
Endline analysis in both phases I and II showed
the mean serum Fe, Zn, retinol and β-carotene
were significantly higher (p < 0.001) for
respective experimental groups. Findings
support the use of vegetable garden-sourced
AILVs in schools to fight malnutrition among
school going children.
Description
A research article published in Journal of Medicinally Active Plants
Keywords
school gardens, serum micronutrients, vegetable recipes
Citation
Wakhanu, John; Hudson Nyambaka; Mildred Nawiri; Judith Kimiywe; and Wilson Thagana. 2020. "Nutrition-Sensitive Intervention with African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables among School-Going Children in Machakos County, Kenya." Journal of Medicinally Active Plants 9, (3):111-125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/15kg-3r28 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/jmap/vol9/iss3/3