[How can food supplementation to young children be improved?]

The various forms of malnutrition start to appear around the age of six months, once the mother's milk is insufficient for all the needs of the child. There are various factors which contribute to dietary insufficiency during weaning, but the most important is that foods used to supplement milk do not have a high enough energy density. Gruels prepared from cereals and root crops are given to many children. They have a very high starch content, and must therefore be extensively diluted for the viscosity to be acceptable to the child. There are various methods available to reduce the swelling capacity of starch. The aim is to increase the dry matter content (and thus energy content) of gruels, without increasing their viscosity. Hydrolysis of starch by amylases of various origins is possible. Current knowledge about starch hydrolytic activities and nutritional consequences suggest that it may be valuable to use germinated cereals domestically and for small-scale production, and use industrial amylase for larger scale production. In urban environments, these technologies should be encouraged among street food vendors and small food businesses.