Oumar Sock

Formulation of Infant Food Based on Local Cereals: Stability and Effectson Cognitive Development

Our goal was to develop nutritious; accessible and stable infants flour which would improve cognitive and behavior abilities for African children. Five formulations (F1 to F5) based on local cereals from Senegal were manufactured according to FAO/WHO nutritional requirements and composed to reach equal energetic value (400 Kcal/Kg). Flours formulation stability was studied by storage at 20°C and5 relative humidities (0%to 95%) for 10 months. Flour dextrose equivalent; color and fat composition were followed and all formulated flours showed very good stability for a storage relative humidity below 75%. During in vivo nutritional tests; a comparative weight study between mice fed with standard nutritive flour (control); and those fed with F1 to F5 formulations showed a similar slope of weight gain even if adaptation time to new feed initially retard mice growth. F2 and F3 showed the highest weight deficiency compared to the control. Y and Morris Tests; used to characterize the behavior showed that F3; F4 and F5 formulations significantly increased psychomotor activity compared to the control. Long term memory was not significantly different between all formulations; except for F5 which showed a clear improvement. F2 formulation composed of corn was the least efficient for working memory due to its low proteins quality. The low number of triplets can slightly affect the F2 alternation percent; even if this effect was not observed for the control. The other formulations gave results close to the control food. F4 and F5 formulations showed good nutritional qualities; F4; enriched with vitamins and minerals; as well as F5 enriched with fish oil gave very good results on all growth and comportment parameters. They might be effective for better cognitive and somatic development of children.