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The purpose of this paper is to gain insight on parental attitudes towards weaning practices and weaning foods for health in Malaysia using Q-methodology.

The study population was parents that had a child aged three years or less. A total of 47 parents were recruited to partake in a one-on-one activity which involved sorting 69 statements about weaning practices and weaning food products into a grid that was normally distributed ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Sorting was immediately followed by a short interview to understand the reasons behind the placement of particular statements.

Data analysis identified three statistically distinct participant attitudes towards weaning practices and foods for health that were then interpreted using the rich qualitative data from the post-sort interviews. The attitudes identified were “All Homemade and Natural”, “Commercial Convenience and Trust” and “Balance and Variety”.

This study identified the dominant sets of attitudes held by Malaysian parents towards weaning practices and weaning foods for health using Q-methodology. To authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper focussing on weaning foods for health, specifically on functional weaning food. This new understanding of shared attitudes will allow product developers, marketers and health communicators to more effectively design their products and their marketing mix to ensure that these messages resonate well with the target audience who want to provide the best weaning foods possible for their children.

The objective of this study is to develop two nutrient‐dense and acceptable weaning foods – Prowena and Propalm – using high‐protein food ingredients: crayfish (Macrobachium spp), soybeans (Glycine max) and groundnut (Arachis hypogea) to enrich the sole starch based weaning food locally known as “ogi”.

The weaning food mixture was formulated by mixing yellow maize ogi flour, soyflour, groundnut meal and crayfish flour for Prowena (PROW) while palm oil was added to the mixture for Propalm (PROP). PROW and PROP were compared with the commercial weaning food Nutrend (NUTR) and the traditional weaning food, yellow maize gruel, or ogi (YOG), in terms of energy, nutrients and sensory scores.

Chemical analysis showed that PROW contained 2.71 per cent moisture, 22.95 per cent protein, 5.86 per cent fat, 3.75 per cent fibre, 62.39 per cent carbohydrate, 4.31 per cent ash and 3.75 kcal of energy, while PROP had 2.78 per cent moisture, 21.99 per cent protein, 8.86 per cent fat, 3.89 per cent fibre, 59.29 per cent carbohydrate, 4.77 per cent per cent ash and 3.78 kcal of energy. The sensory evaluation showed that both PROW and PROP were equally acceptable as NUTR and more acceptable than YOG in terms of taste, flavour and texture (p<0.05). However, there was no significance difference (p>0.05) in acceptability of PROW, PROP, NUTR and YOG in terms of colour.

The paper shows that the two weaning foods would be suitable for the commercial market to increase the protein intake and to combat protein energy malnutrition (PEM) amongst infants.

Protein‐energy malnutrition is regarded as one of the public health problems in many parts of developing countries. One of the factors responsible is poverty, which has reduced quality of dietary intakes of many homes, particularly children. Therefore, this study aims at formulating weaning food from locally available food materials using traditional processing methods.

The cooking banana and bambara groundnut seeds were purchased from local market in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. The cooking bananas were peeled manually and sliced into pieces length wise, oven‐dried at 60 °C for 24 h, dried, milled and sieved through a 0.4 mm wire mesh screen. The undehulled bambara groundnut (BG) seeds were cleaned, cooked for 1 h, dehulled and fermented for four days using traditional methods. The fermented BG samples were oven dried, milled and sieved. The food samples were mixed in ratio of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40 of cooking banana and BG flour, respectively. Nutrend (commercial formula) and ogi (corn gruel, traditional weaning food) were used as control. The samples were subjected into chemical, physical properties (water absorption capacity, least gelation and swelling capacity) and sensory attributes (taste, aroma, colour, texture and overall acceptability) using standard methods.

Of all the developed food samples CBG₃ (70 per cent of cooking banana and 30 per cent of BG flour mixed) was rated highest; and the amount of CBG₃ needed to supply the nutritional requirements of infant was almost within the range of nutrend. The microbial and antinutrient level of the food samples were relatively low and within the tolerable range for animal consumption.

It can be concluded that the nutritional composition of cooking banana can be enhanced through fermented BG flour supplementation. The nutritional composition of the food sample containing 70 per cent cooking banana and 30 per cent BG flour is adequate to support child growth and development. Hence, it can be used as a substitute for the expensive commercial weaning formula.

The weaning period is a crucial stage in the growth and development of the infant and child. The timing of weaning, the choice of foods, their methods of preparation, and how weanlings are fed, all affect the outcome. The commercial preparation of weaning foods and the fortification of some traditional foods are seen by some as the most sustainable and cost‐effective means of alleviating micronutrient deficiencies among infants and children. This may be true in industrialized countries, but the same cannot necessarily be said of poor, developing countries. Demonstrates that, even in poor communities, it is possible to combine scant food resources in a cost‐effective way to formulate multimixes which would meet energy, protein and micronutrient needs, without fortification. Proposes that such approaches can be used in community nutrition education programmes to help reduce childhood malnutrition and in emergency feeding programmes.

Discusses the various stages in the launch of a new weaning food in Morocco. Highlights inherent problems in marketing a product in Morocco, including government inefficiencies and weaknesses in the retailing infrastructure. Examines the need for a new weaning food in the country due to high levels of malnutrition. Describes the launch of the mew product by the World Health organization and the US Agency for International Development. Discusses the products failure and analyses reasons for this failure including: The Moroccan market environment; The pricing strategy; The distribution strategy; Conflicting aims of the government and the individual entrepreneur. Examines lessons to be learnt from the failure, and techniques to be used in the future including: The conduct of a detailed marketing strategy by an advertising agency. The creation of a focused distribution strategy. Enhance support from the Moroccan government. Concludes that the success of a product in a country like Morocco will depend upon the quality of future marketing planning, and the programme implementation and follow‐up, in addition to the personal commitment of those carrying out the new venture.

This paper aims to focus on the effect of fermentation on wheat-chickpea-rice weaning blend.

Wheat, chickpea, and rice were blended and fermented with Rhizopus koji for 60 h at 29±2°C at an interval of 15 h. Blends were analyzed using methods reported in the literature for physicochemical and sensory properties.

Protein content of the weaning blends increased progressively from 14.63 percent in the unfermented to 20.89 percent after 60 h of fermentation, while the fat content decreased as fermentation time increases. The pH of the samples gradually decreased from 4.53 to 3.83 with gradual increase in titratable acidity as fermentation time increases. The water absorption capacity, total plate count, and yeast and mold count were found to be in the range 112.2±1.16 to 171±1.67 percent, 1.0×103 to 1.3×103 cfu/g, and 700 to 800 cfu/g, respectively. In terms of sensory analysis, 15-h fermented sample was found to be the best.

The paper has demonstrated effect of fermentation on wheat-chickpea-rice weaning blend.

Young babies are vulnerable to food‐borne disease. Examines the results of a questionnaire survey of parents and carers in day nurseries to examine the practices used to sterilize feeding equipment, reconstitute infant milk feeds and prepare weaning foods. Reports on observations of infant feeding practices carried out in six day nurseries. Standards of food handling in the nurseries were high but there was a lack of knowledge about current food hygiene regulations. Parents generally complied with recommended techniques for sterilizing equipment and reconstituting infant feeds. Extensive use was made of convenience weaning foods but foods were also prepared in the home. Recommended cooling and reheating techniques were not widely used. Some potentially unsafe practices were used to transport reconstituted milk feeds or weaning foods.

The objectives of this study are to develop low cost weaning food for the economically disadvantaged nursing mothers and also to prevent protein energy malnutrition among the infants in Nigeria.

The blends (sweet potato and soybean flour) were prepared (homogenously) in the ratio of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50 of sweet potato and soybean respectively. Triplicate samples of each blend were analyzed for moisture, fat, protein (N × 6.25), crude fiber and ash. Total lipid was estimated by petroleum ether extraction. Carbohydrate content was estimated by difference. Gross energy was determined. Water absorption capacity and bulk density were determined using standard procedures. The pasting characteristics of the flours were evaluated using a standard procedure. The sensory evaluation was carried out on the following parameters: taste, appearance, aroma, mouth (texture), colour and overall acceptability by a panel of ten members using a nine‐point hedonic scale.

The results of nutritional composition of the supplements showed protein 11.2–33.72 per cent, carbohydrates 42.91–76.51 per cent, fat 3.10–12.78 per cent, energy values 329.5–366.74 kcal/100 g and appreciable quantities of P, Zn, Fe, Mg, Ca, K and Na. The soy‐sweet potato flours had peak viscosity values between 180–365 BU. These values increased when cooled to 50°C, (420–760 BU). Results of this study showed that at 30 per cent soy flour supplementation, the meal could meet satisfactorily the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for children of 1–3 years old, and that the developed soy‐sweet potato diets were nutritious, inexpensive and can easily be prepared from locally available raw food materials by using simple domestic processing techniques.

Evidence has shown that the cost of commercial weaning formula is very high and most of the low‐income family cannot afford to purchase this commercial weaning food and for such people an alternative low cost weaning formula is helpful.

Summarizes some of the topics addressed at the National Dairy Council conference “Nutrition and the Growing Cycle”. Describes the recommendations of the DoH report Weaning and the Weaning Diet; the importance of breast‐feeding; and the UK Baby Friendly Initiative.

The purpose of this review of the literature is to provide data about flaxseed intake during pregnancy and/or lactation and its effects in the offspring from birth to adulthood.

This review includes up-to-date information from evidence-based sources on flaxseed intake and its by-products, during pregnancy and lactation and its effects on male and female offspring, from post-weaning until adulthood. Topics included are effects on body mass; glycaemic metabolism; lipid profile; blood pressure and aortic structure; reproductive system and brain tissue.

The main effects of flaxseed or its by-products were observed in the cardiovascular system, where a lipid profile improvement and minor aortic remodelling were noticed, and in the cerebral development, where greater n-3 PUFA incorporation in the brain was detected.

The research done in this study, to understand the offspring response that were early exposed to the flaxseed components during pregnancy and lactation, may be the first step toward guiding future strategies for recommending the use of this seed during the offspring’s perinatal period.