INTRODUCTION

• In West and Central Africa most people survive on a cereal-based diet (corn, millet, rice, sorghum) which is very protein poor (Lehman et al. 2006; Whitney and Rolfes 2005).

• Lysine is a key essential amino acid absent in this cereal-based diet (Whitney and Rolfes 2005). Mali, like most of West Africa, is heavily affected by protein-calorie malnutrition. One in four children are malnourished (Philip 2006).

• Marasmus is full protein-calorie malnutrition, basically starvation and is characterized by severe wasting (Sullivan 2006).

• Kwashiorkor is the presence of high amounts of carbohydrates in the diet with lack of adequate protein consumption. Kwashiorkor is commonly recognized by edema most noticeable in the ventral body region and often results in child mortality or mental retardation (Philip 2006).

• A simple increase in protein intake would effectively cure or prevent both Kwashiorkor and Marasmas (Kay 1975).

• Participatory assessment by MSU-Bozeman externs in 2005 (Kante et al. in review) in 2 Malian communes (11 villages) indicated hunger and malaria were the greatest concerns.

• Lactobacillus fermentum is a bacterium isolated in 1980’s in Egypt from traditional sourdough bread starter.

• L. fermentum produces lactic acid (natural preservative), carbon dioxide (natural leavening agent) and can be used successfully in place of baker’s yeast. As it ferments the bacterium produces high amounts of free (digestible) lysine in bread (Dunkel et al. 2006; U.S. Patent No. 6,066,343).

Rebecca M. Cooper1; Florence V. Dunkel1; Assa Kanté2; David C. Sands1

1Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, 119 Plant BioScience Building, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717-3150, United States

2Institut d’Economie Rurale, BP 258, Rue Mohamed V, Bamako, Mali

CONCLUSIONS

• Bread consumption frequency is not high enough to provide a reliable source of protein through the use of the bacterium L. fermentum in the villages.• Technologies to make a sufficient source of sourdough bread are not available in Mali at this time. • Further investigation into the use of L. fermenum with traditional fermented products is recommended.

DISCUSSION

• Bread is obviously well liked in the village but availability of bread is erratic and usually consumed weekly by the majority of villagers.• Few Malians had heard of sourdough bread, and there was no indication that it had ever been made commercially in Mali.• Villagers demonstrated a good knowledge of malaria and its symptoms. • The link between nutrition and health was absent or misunderstood by a majority of the villagers interviewed, similar to Dettwyler’s research results in Mali (1994).• Although lysine is present in another widely available Malian vegetable protein, cowpeas (Gomez 2007, Hussain and Basany 1998, Lambot 2002, Murdock et al. 2000), all villagers interviewed could not safely store cowpeas more than 2 months and therefore this high lysine, high protein source within the village was not available year long.• Lack of lunch programs in schools interviewed, except AISB, indicated no access to children’s nutritional needs through schools.• Some traditional fermented products in Mali would provide an appropriate environment for the use of L. fermentum such as Ngomi (millet pancakes), froufrou, and degué. • There was disagreement among the team concerning the validity of some data which indicated that Moni (millet balls) were fermented during preparation.

LITERATURE CITED

• Chambers, T.A. Pacey and L.A. Thrupp, eds. 1989. Farmer First: Farmer Innovation and Agricultural Research. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.

• Dettwyler, K.A.1994. Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa. Long Groove, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.

• Dunkel, F.V., D. Sands, and C. Montagne. 2006. "High Lysine Yeast Replacement." Pre-Proposal to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 26.

• Gomez, C. 2007. Cowpea: Post-Harvest Operations. Online. 20 Jan 2007. <http://www.fao.org/inpho/content/compend/text/ch32/ch32_01.htm#1_1>.

• Hussain, M.A. and A.Y. Basahy.1998. "Nutrient composition and amino acid pattern of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp, Fabaceae) grown in the Gizan area of Saudi Arabia." International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 49:117-124.

• Kante, A., F.V. Dunkel, A. Williams, S. Magro, A. Camara, H. Sissako. Communicating Agricultural and Health-Related Information in Low Literacy Communities: Case Study of Villagers Served By the Bougoula Community Learning and Information Center (CLIC) in Mali. In review.

• Kay, T.1975. “Use of Soya Bean to Improve the Protein Content of the Diet In West Africa and thus Prevent Kwashiorkor.” Environmental Child Health 21.1-B:45-48.

• Lambot, C. 2002. Industrial potential of cowpea. Agriculture raw material, Nestle Research Center, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. pp: 367-375.

• Lehman, A.D., F.V. Dunkel, R. Klein, K.T. Gamby, D. Diallo, S. Ouattara, and M. N’Diaye. 2007. Insect management products from Malian traditional medicine-Establishing systematic criteria for their identification. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 110: 235-249

• Murdock, L.L., D. Seck, G. Ntoukam, L. Kitch, and R.E. Shade. 2000. "Preservation of cowpea grain in sub-Saharan Africa - Bean/Cowpea CRSP contributions." Field Crops Research 27:197-201.

• Philip, J. 2006. "Marabou 2005: Nutrition and Human Development." Nutrition Reviews 64: 11.

• Savory, A. and J. Butterfield. 1999. Holistic Management. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

• Sullivan, J. 2006. "The quality of the diet in Malawian children with kwashiorkor and marasmus." Maternal & Child Nutrition 2:114.

• U.S. Patent No. 6,066,343. 2000. Megeed, M.E.A. Eid and D.C. Sands. Methods and compositions for making fermented cereal products.

• Whitney, E. and S.R. Rolfes. 2005. Understanding Nutrition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSOur deep appreciation to IER scientists Kadiatou Gamby Touré, Sidiki Traoré, Abdoulaye Camara, Aissata Thera, and Keriba Coulibaly and to our funding sources USDA Cooperative States Research Extension Education Service (CSREES) Higher Education Challenge Grant Program, no. 2004-38411-14762, “Discovery-Based Undergraduate Opportunities: Facilitating Farmer-to-Farmer Teaching and Learning” (Dunkel, P.I.); Montana State University Undergraduate Scholars Program, 2007 (Cooper); Montana Agricultural Experiment Station (No. 161, Dunkel), and US Agency for International Development-Washington through the Office of Higher Education for Development (HED) under Cooperative Agreement HNE-A-00-97-00059-00.

High Lysine Yeast Replacement: Evaluating the Feasibility to Alleviate the Frequency of Protein Malnutrition in Mali

RESULTSVillages:

• 100% of villagers interviewed in Sanambélé and Bougoula ate bread with varying frequency. 96% of all adult respondents and 100% of the child population liked eating bread.• Villagers indicated the main evidence of health in children was energy and playful behavior. Lack of energy, not eating, yellow/red eyes and a temperature were main signs of illness described by villagers. • Traditional fermented food products made in the village were: ngomi, degué, and frou frou in order of frequency.

Bakeries:• Bakeries are prevalent in Bamako and bake fresh bread everyday on location.• No sourdough bread was made in Bamako bakeries. • The bread is made by machine and flour is considered the most expensive ingredient.

Schools:• The American International School of Bamako (AISB) was the only school interviewed providing a school lunch program and only 25% of students used the service.• All other schools interviewed are released by 2pm and students lunch at home with their families.

MATERIALS AND METHODS• We chose a holistic, participatory approach (Chambers 1989; Savory and Butterfield 1999). Active involvement of Malians, including villagers, is imperative to sustainably help Mali combat nutrition problems. Input and critique by Malians was incorporated at each step in this project. Our approach placed a high priority on flexibility in order to best accommodate Malian culture. • Preliminary tests with L. fermentum were conducted in Dr. Sands’ lab at MSU-Bozeman to find a usable bread recipe. Ingredients, including the quantity of sourdough starter, were manipulated to produce a desirable bread product. Separate survey instruments were developed for in-depth interviews with individual villagers, bakery owners, and managers of school lunch programs in Mali. Data were gathered in Mali using these instruments to evaluate feasibility of using L. fermentum to help prevent protein-calorie malnutrition. We selected 2 villages from 11 surveyed by the MSU team including 2005 Undergraduate Scholars (Kante et al. in review): the Bambara farming villages of Sanambele population 751 (Commune Dialakoroba) and Bougoula population 1,323 (Commune Bougoula). Bougoula also was the Commune headquarters and housed the weekly market for that commune.

Aknowledeged Disease Symptoms in the Village

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Village Bread Consumption

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* Bread imported directly from Bamako by family members.

* Villagers of Bougoula have a weekly market in their own village, whereas Sanambele villagers must travel to Dialakoroba for a weekly market.

In-depth interviews (ca. 30 minutes each) were conducted by our team with individual villagers, several bakeries in Bamako, and the American International School of Bamako (AISB), Ecole Populaire de Kati, and the village school in Sanambélé.

Tô, eaten in the villages, made from millet flour.

Millet after pounded into flour.

Children in the village of Sanambélé eating French bread. Photo by Denise Dahl.

Rebecca Cooper and Assa Kanté in Sanambélé during a focus group. Photo by Denise Dahl.

• Hypothesis: Incorporation of L. fermentum into the Malian diet will provide a reliable protein source and help combat protein-malnutrition in Mali.

*Sanambele* Bougoula

Relative location of villages where 2005 and

2007 studies were conducted.

Acknowledged Disease Symptoms in Village

Bread Availability

Village Bread Consumption

Photos by Amy Druse