Survey data on income, food security, and dietary behavior among women and children from households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri-urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya.

This article describes data collected to analyze consumer behaviors in vulnerable populations by examining key access constraints to nutritious foods among households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri‑urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya. The key variables studied include wealth status, food security, and dietary behavior indicators at individual and household level. Household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS), livelihood coping strategies (LCS), food expenditure share (FES), food consumption score (FCS), household dietary diversity score (HDDS), minimum dietary diversity-women(MDD-W), and child dietary diversity score (CDDS) indicators were used to measure food security.

Iron Concentrations in Biofortified Beans and Nonbiofortified Marketplace Varieties in East Africa Are Similar.

Background: The predominant bean iron (Fe) biofortification approach is to breed for high Fe concentration and assumes the average Fe concentration is 50 μg/g. This approach also assumes that a 40 μg/g increase is sustainable and Fe bioavailability will not decrease to negate the increase in Fe.

Objective: The overall objective was to determine if bean Fe biofortification via breeding for high Fe is producing beans with higher Fe concentration relative to nonbiofortified lines found in the East Africa marketplace.

Consumption of Iron-Biofortified Beans Positively Affects Cognitive Performance in 18- to 27-Year-Old Rwandan Female College Students in an 18-Week Randomized Controlled Efficacy Trial.

Evidence shows that iron deficiency in adulthood may affect cognitive performance, possibly by disrupting neurotransmitter regulation or brain energy metabolism. Women of reproductive age (WRA) are among those who are most vulnerable to iron deficiency; however, they have been largely ignored in the literature relating iron status to cognition. Our aim was to determine the efficacy of iron-biofortified beans in improving cognition in WRA compared with control beans.

Consuming Iron Biofortified Beans Increases Iron Status in Rwandan Women after 128 Days in a Randomized Controlled Feeding Trial.

Background: Food-based strategies to reduce nutritional iron deficiency have not been universally successful. Biofortification has the potential to become a sustainable, inexpensive, and effective solution.

Objective: This randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine the efficacy of iron-biofortified beans (Fe-Beans) to improve iron status in Rwandan women.

Genetic and physiological analysis of iron biofortification in maize kernels.

Background: Maize is a major cereal crop widely consumed in developing countries, which have a high prevalence of iron (Fe) deficiency anemia. The major cause of Fe deficiency in these countries is inadequate intake of bioavailable Fe, where poverty is a major factor. Therefore, biofortification of maize by increasing Fe concentration and or bioavailability has great potential to alleviate this deficiency.

Use of white beans instead of red beans may improve iron bioavailability from a Tanzanian complementary food mixture.

In the study presented, an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture model was used to assess the amount of bioavailable iron from a modified Tanzanian complementary food formulation. The main objective of the study was to determine whether a change from red beans to white beans in the complementary food recipe would improve iron bioavailability from the mixture, as recent studies had indicated that iron bioavailability in white beans is significantly higher compared to that in the colored beans. The white beans had a significantly higher (p<0.

In vitro estimates of iron bioavailability in some Kenyan complementary foods.

Background: Iron-deficiency anemia is by far the most widespread micronutrient deficiency disease in the world, affecting more than 2 billion people. Although there are multiple causes of anemia, its high prevalence among children-especially in developing countries such as Kenya-is attributed to an inadequate intake of dietary iron.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the amount of bioavailable iron in Kenyan complementary foods and to determine whether strategies such as food diversification using locally available foods would improve the bioavailability of iron from these foods.

Micronutrient sprinkles add more bioavailable iron to some Kenyan complementary foods: studies using an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture model.

Iron deficiency anaemia is arguably the most important public health problem in developing countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, iron deficiency anaemia has largely been attributed to poor infant feeding practices where complementary foods low in iron bioavailability are offered to at-risk infants. Home fortification of complementary foods using micronutrient Sprinkles has been shown to reduce iron deficiency anaemia in many resource-poor settings.