Seminar: SMART foods for food and nutrition security in Africa

SMART foods for food and nutrition security in Africa

The African population is suffering from triple burden of malnutrition as (i) macronutrient deficiency leading to protein energy malnutrition in children. (ii) micronutrient deficiency (iii) and over consumption of energy dense food that lead to diet related non-communicable diseases for example obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The presentation will show how research in the production of SMART (acronym for safe, marketable, affordable, ready to eat and tasty) foods can potentially tackle the triple burden of malnutrition. The research includes (i) reduction of energy dense foods by replacing fat with modified starch (ii) modification of food matrix and starch to reduce starch digestibility of local and indigenous porridge (iii) importance of viscosity of local and indigenous complementary foods for child malnutrition.

Professor M. Naushad Emmambux

Department of Consumer and Food Sciences and DST/NRF CoE in Food Security, University of Pretoria

Email: Naushad.emmambux@up.ac.za