Nutritional value of locally produced foods and potential for developing age-appropriate complementary foods for children under 2 years of age in Mali.

Background: Promotion of dietary diversity using locally available nutritious foods is an effective approach in low-income areas to improve the quality of young children's diet and, hence, their growth and development.

Objective: To identify the nutritional values of locally acceptable, feasible, affordable, and sustainable foods and develop a number of recipes that could be used to complement effectively nutrient intakes provided through breastfeeding to children 6 to 23 months of age in Bandiagara, Mali.

Methods: Structured questionnaires were used to obtain lists of all locally available foods during village assembly meetings and identify the food basket of households and child feeding practices during interviews with mothers and fathers.