[Impact of consumption of corn flour with low level enrichment in children of rural zones]

Abstract

Introduction: Corn has been from the prehispanic era, the most important feeding plant in the Mexican population, particularly in the most important sectors and in marginal areas. In this setting, enriching the product as flour implies an increase in its nutritional quality, especially because corn is the basic food.

Objective: To assess the effect of the consumption of corn flour enriched with 3% soybean, vitamins, and minerals on the growth and development of infants and preschool children.

Material and methods: experimental study lasting 10 months. The experimental group (n=195) received enriched corn flour whereas the control group (n=200) received non-enriched flour. The indicators were: nutritional status, mental and psychomotor development, and blood hemoglobin levels.

Results: in the total sample, there were no differences between the experimental group and the control group. However, there were improvements in the weight-to-height and weight-to-age indexes in the children consuming enriched flour and in children older than one year, who were the babies of indigenous women living in marginal areas.

Conclusions: enriched corn flour appears to be an alternative benefitting the children population with higher nutritional deficiencies. However, a longer intervention is necessary to obtain better results.