STUDY ON THE NUTRITIONAL PROFILING OF COMPLEMENTARY FOODS MARKETED IN NIAMEY, NIGER

Improving complementary feeding is one of the interventions implemented during the first 1,000 days of life to avoid the consequences of malnutrition in all its forms. In Niger, despite all our efforts, improvements in nutrition and food-related behavior are still limited. Inappropriate labelling practices and/or inadequate nutrient content of complementary foods for children under 2 years old could hamper the government's efforts to combat malnutrition. The aim of this study was to investigate the nutritional profiling of complementary foods for children aged 6-36 months marketed in Niger. It targeted all outlets and types of local and imported complementary foods for children aged 6-36 months. The European nutrient profile model developed by WHO in 2019 was used to assess the compliance of surveyed complementary foods with the model's requirements in terms of labeling practices and nutritional composition. At the end of the survey, 57 sale outlets were registered. After elimination of duplicates, 20 sale outlets corresponding to the 85 complementary foods were retained. The result shows that local complementary foods represent 18.82%, those from the sub-region 17.68%, those from Asia 8.25% and those from Europe 55.25%. The compliance rate with the nutritional profile model is 00% for local complementary foods, 3.55% for the sub-region, 00% for Asia and 8.25% for complementary foods from Europe. According to our results, the nutritional profile of marketed supplementary foods is a cause for concern. Improving these foods would promote the physical and mental well-being of children.