There are urgent calls for the transformation of agriculture and food systems to address human and planetary health issues. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture and agroecology promise interconnected solutions to these challenges, but evidence of their impact has been limited. In a cluster-randomized trial (NCT02761876), we examined whether a nutrition-sensitive agroecology intervention in rural Tanzania could improve children's dietary diversity. Secondary outcomes were food insecurity and child anthropometry. We also posited that such an intervention would improve sustainable agricultural practices (e.g., agrobiodiversity, intercropping), women's empowerment (e.g., participation in decision making, time use), and women's well-being (e.g., dietary diversity, depression). Food-insecure smallholder farmers with children aged <1 y from 20 villages in Singida, Tanzania, were invited to participate. Villages were paired and publicly randomized; control villages received the intervention after 2 y. One man and 1 woman “mentor farmer” were elected from each intervention village to lead their peers in agroecological learning on topics including legume intensification, nutrition, and women's empowerment. Impact was estimated using longitudinal difference-in-differences fixed-effects regression analyses. A total of 591 households (intervention: n = 296; control: n = 295) were enrolled; 90.0% were retained to study end. After 2 growing seasons, the intervention improved children's dietary diversity score by 0.57 food groups (out of 7; P < 0.01), and the percentage of children achieving minimum dietary diversity (≥4 food groups) increased by 9.9 percentage points during the postharvest season. The intervention significantly reduced household food insecurity but had no significant impact on child anthropometry. The intervention also improved a range of sustainable agriculture, women's empowerment, and women's well-being outcomes. The magnitude of the intervention's impacts was similar to or larger than that of other nutrition-sensitive interventions that provided more substantial inputs but were not agroecologically focused. These data suggest the untapped potential for nutrition-sensitive agroecological approaches to achieve human health while promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess dietary practices, nutrient adequacy, and nutrition status among 164 adolescents aged between 16 and 19 years in boarding secondary schools in the Kilimanjaro region. In-depth interviews and a survey guided by a semistructured and structured questionnaire, including 24-hour recall and food frequency questionnaire techniques, were used to collect information. Nutrition status was assessed using anthropometric measurements and hemoglobin levels. WHO AnthroPlus software and NutriSurvey software were used to analyze anthropometry and dietary data, respectively. Diet in boarding schools was monotonous comprising mainly of cereal-legume meal with low intake of animal sources, fruits, and vegetables. Mean intake of energy, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and zinc was 1392 kcal, 24.8 mg, 9.2 mg, 134.5 mg, and 4.3 mg, respectively, which were below the Recommended Daily Allowance. The average carbohydrate, fat, and protein intake of 471.9 g, 73.7 g, and 80.7 g, respectively, were slightly higher than the Recommended Daily Allowance in both sexes. Male had a significantly higher intake of protein and carbohydrates (P<0.001). Female had a significantly (P<0.001) high intake of fat compared to male adolescents. Overall, 23.1% of the adolescents were anaemic, 25% were overweight, and 6.1% were obese. Boarding secondary schools’ diet is monotonous and are inadequate in key micronutrients, iron, zinc, calcium, and vitamin C. There is a coexistence of undernutrition and overnutrition among adolescents in boarding schools. Therefore, monitoring adolescents’ dietary intake and nutrition status is a key in preventing adolescents’ malnutrition in the short term and diet-related diseases in the long term.

Complementary foods based on habitual cereals such as maize have been linked with the promotion of undernutrition in young children. Blending the starchy-rich maize with nutritious-rich indigenous food such as oyster mushroom could improve the nutritional composition of complementary foods. This study investigated the effectiveness and suitability of oyster mushrooms in improving the nutritional value of maize flour commonly used as a bulk ingredient in complementary foods. Flour made of well-cleaned and sun-dried oyster mushroom was blended with maize flour at 0% (control), 30%, 40%, and 50%. Proximate composition, mineral density, and sensory evaluation were determined using standard procedures. Significant improvement in the nutritional quality of formulated flour blends with all proportions of mushroom flour was obtained . Blending maize flour with 30%, 40%, or 50% oyster mushroom flour improved the protein content of formulated flour blends from 8.63% to 18.20%, 8.63% to 20.37% and 8.63% to 22.75%, respectively. The increase in ash and fiber content ranged between 82.52% to 84.16% and 50.69% to 58.35%, respectively. Mineral content of formulated flour blends was improved from 62.89% to 64.72% (iron), 7.63% to 22.69% (zinc), 77.48% to 78.02% (calcium), and 67.55% to 67.64% (potassium). Sensory scores of porridges prepared from formulated flour blends showed good acceptance for the colour, flavour, and aroma of the porridges from three formulated flour blends. Overall, this study recommends blending oyster mushroom with maize flour to improve the nutritional content of formulated flour blend for young children who rely on maize porridge as their complementary food.

The cashew apple is a nutritious pseudofruit of the cashew tree, after the nut. It is highly perishable and has an astringent taste, which hinder its utilization in the food sector. This study was designed to optimize clarification of cashew apple juice (CAJ) using gelatine, and assess the effect of clarification on physicochemical properties (titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and pH), nutrient retention, and sensory quality of pressed and blended CAJ. CAJ was treated with gelatine concentrations (0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 g/L) at room temperature (24–26°C) for 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 h. Both clarified and unclarified juice were analyzed for tannin, total phenol, β‐carotene, vitamin C, sugar, minerals, antioxidant activity, and physicochemical and sensory qualities. The results showed that tannin in pressed CAJ was optimally reduced from 217.6 mg/100 ml TAE to 24.6 mg/100 ml TAE, and from 258.0 mg/100 ml TAE to 55.0 mg/100 ml TAE in blended CAJ, using 0.2 g of gelatine in a liter of juice, for 2 h at room temperature. Both CAJ with and without clarification showed no significant difference in pH, total soluble solids, and titratable acidity (p < .05). However, blended CAJ had higher contents of total phenol, tannin, β‐carotene, vitamin C, sugar, minerals, and antioxidant activity (p < .05). The use of a low concentration (0.2 g/L) of gelatine in a liter of either blended or pressed CAJ yielded sweet and less astringent CAJ with high‐intensity yellow color. The technologies performed well at room temperature and therefore provide the basis for potential business investment.

Achieving nutritional requirements for pregnant and lactating mothers in rural households while maintaining the intake of local and culture-specific foods can be a difficult task. Deploying a linear goal programming approach can effectively generate optimal dietary patterns that incorporate local and culturally acceptable diets. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether a realistic and affordable diet that achieves nutritional goals for rural pregnant and lactating women can be formulated from locally available foods in Tanzania. A cross sectional study was conducted to assess dietary intakes of 150 pregnant and lactating women using a weighed dietary record (WDR), 24 h dietary recalls and a 7-days food record. A market survey was also carried out to estimate the cost per 100 g of edible portion of foods that are frequently consumed in the study population. Dietary survey and market data were then used to define linear programming (LP) model parameters for diet optimisation. All LP analyses were done using linear program solver to generate optimal dietary patterns. Our findings showed that optimal dietary patterns designed from locally available foods would improve dietary adequacy for 15 and 19 selected nutrients in pregnant and lactating women, respectively, but inadequacies remained for iron, zinc, folate, pantothenic acid, and vitamin E, indicating that these are problem nutrients (nutrients that did not achieve 100% of their RNIs in optimised diets) in the study population. These findings suggest that optimal use of local foods can improve dietary adequacy for rural pregnant and lactating women aged 19–50 years. However, additional cost-effective interventions are needed to ensure adequate intakes for the identified problem nutrients.

The study aimed at assessing water, sanitation, and hygiene practices and their influence on infectious diseases among under-five children in semipastoral communities of Arusha. The study was cross-sectional in design. Prevalence of infectious diseases among under-five children was derived from patients’ attendance register. Mothers randomly sampled from households were interviewed using questionnaire. Information regarding child morbidity and sociodemographic and WASH characteristics was gathered. Hospital data revealed that 2/3 of under-five patients visited the hospitals annually were suffering from infectious diseases. Mean percentage of diarrhea prevalence for years 2013–2015 in Longido was higher than the mean of the respective years prevalence in Monduli (p=0.02). Households’ survey showed that 15.5% of under-five children were suffering from diarrhea. Children who consumed foods kept inkibuyu(p<0.001) or used unboiled cows’ milk (p=0.01) or were drinking surface water (p=0.04) or born to uneducated mothers (p=0.01) had increased risk of developing diarrhea compared to their counterparts. Storing complementary foods inkibuyuwas strongly associated with diarrhea among under-five children. To address the problem, communities under study need to be motivated through health education on food hygiene, proper handling of food storage containers, and domestic water treatment at the household level.