Improving school age nutrition and school performance through amaranth plus flaxseed food product distribution in Sidama, Ethiopia: a study protocol

Under-nutrition contributes to compromised learning, productivity and creativity in children. Primary school age children are a vulnerable group to under-nutrition, specifically anaemia and underweight. School feeding programs using locally grown foods targeting food insecure areas is one of the strategies to decrease the prevalence of under-nutrition in school children. Even if school feeding programs have been initiated in Ethiopia, the majority of vulnerable children have not benefitted from these interventions. Moreover, inadequate amount and poor quality of foods as well as sustainability of programs are challenging. Exploring underutilized and nutrient rich food sources could be one of the ways to mitigate the shortage of energy and nutrient dense food supplementation for school feeding. Amaranth is one of the few plants where leaves are eaten as a vegetable, while the seeds are used in the same way as cereals. In our previous work, we discovered that amaranth grain which grows as a wild plant has better nutrient content compared with the commonly consumed staple food maize. Also, an amaranth intervention done by this study group in younger children showed a significant effect on decreasing anaemia prevalence in children. But, we did not identify a significant weight or height change in the amaranth group. Further we found that the consumption of fish or seafood in the study area was almost null. This study aims to assess nutritional health and to reduce under-nutrition among school children by promoting amaranth plus flaxseed food from locally grown, standardised foods in Sidama, Ethiopia. Under this research project the following three study designs will be undertaken: a laboratory based food analysis study, a cross sectional study and an experimental pilot study.