Estimates of Dietary Mineral Micronutrient Supply from Staple Cereals in Ethiopia at a District Level

Recent surveys have revealed substantial spatial variation in the micronutrient composition of cereals in Ethiopia, where a single national micronutrient concentration values for cereal grains are of limited use for estimating typical micronutrient intakes. We estimated the district-level dietary mi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abdu Oumer Abdu, Diriba B. Kumssa, Edward J. M. Joy, Hugo De Groote, R. Murray Lark, Martin R. Broadley, Dawd Gashu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-08-01
Series:Nutrients
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/17/3469
Description
Summary:Recent surveys have revealed substantial spatial variation in the micronutrient composition of cereals in Ethiopia, where a single national micronutrient concentration values for cereal grains are of limited use for estimating typical micronutrient intakes. We estimated the district-level dietary mineral supply of staple cereals, combining district-level cereal production and crop mineral composition data, assuming cereal consumption of 300 g capita<sup>−1</sup> day<sup>−1</sup> proportional to district-level production quantity of each cereal. We considered Barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i> L.), maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.), sorghum (<i>Sorghum bicolor</i> (L.) Moench), teff (<i>Eragrostis tef</i> (Zuccagni) Trotter), and wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.) consumption representing 93.5% of the total cereal production in the three major agrarian regions. On average, grain cereals can supply 146, 23, and 7.1 mg capita<sup>−1</sup> day<sup>−1</sup> of Ca, Fe, and Zn, respectively. In addition, the Se supply was 25 µg capita<sup>−1</sup> day<sup>−1</sup>. Even at district-level, cereals differ by their mineral composition, causing a wide range of variation in their contribution to the daily dietary requirements, i.e., for an adult woman: 1–48% of Ca, 34–724% of Fe, 17–191% of Se, and 48–95% of Zn. There was considerable variability in the dietary supply of Ca, Fe, Se, and Zn from staple cereals between districts in Ethiopia.
ISSN:2072-6643