Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Interventions and public health nutrition

Microbiological quality of complementary foods and its association with diarrhoeal morbidity and nutritional status of Bangladeshi children

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 66, pages 1242–1246 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

To examine the bacteriological quality of complementary foods (CF) and to correlate the results with diarrhoeal morbidity and nutritional status of Bangladeshi children aged 6–24 months.

Subjects/methods:

A total of 212 CF samples were tested, of which 72 were collected immediately before the first time of feeding (⩽1 h of food preparation) and 140 were collected at second/third time of feeding from 140 households located in urban and rural areas of Bangladesh. Anthropometry, food frequency data and demographic information of the children were collected.

Results:

Of the first time feeding samples, 3% from each of urban and rural areas were found to be contaminated with faecal coliforms (FC) at ⩾100 CFU/g. E. coli was isolated from 11% and 6% of samples, and B. cereus from 8% and 6% of samples from urban and rural areas, respectively. In contrast, 33% of the second/third time feeding samples from urban areas and 19% from rural areas were contaminated with FC at ⩾100 CFU/g (P<0.05). E. coli was isolated from 40% and 39% of samples, and B. cereus from 33% and 26% of samples from urban and rural areas, respectively. Significantly high numbers of wasted rural children had CF with a high aerobic plate count, which was also significantly associated with diarrhoeal morbidity in children.

Conclusions:

Around 40% of CF samples were contaminated with E. coli, which was mainly attributable to food preparation practices. Consumption of contaminated CF appeared to be associated with a higher frequency of diarrhoea and malnutrition in children.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. You D, Wardlaw T, Salama P, Jones G . Levels and trends in under-5 mortality, 1990-2008. Lancet 2010; 375: 100–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Black RE, Morris SS, Bryce J . Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? Lancet 2003; 361: 2226–2234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Baqui AH, Ahmed T . Diarrhoea and malnutrition in children. BMJ 2006; 332: 378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. WHO Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Guiding principles for complementary feeding of the breastfed child. World Health Organization: Geneva, 2001 pp 40.

  5. World Health Organization (WHO). Complementary feeding of young children in developing countries: a review of current scientific knowledge. World Health Organization: Geneva, 1998 pp 227.

  6. Kimmons JE, Dewey KG, Haque E, Chakraborty J, Osendarp SJ, Brown KH . Low nutrient intakes among infants in rural Bangladesh are attributable to low intake and micronutrient density of complementary foods. J Nutr 2005; 135: 444–451.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dewey KG, Brown KH . Update on technical issues concerning complementary feeding of young children in developing countries and implications for intervention programs. Food Nutr Bull 2003; 24: 5–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hotz C, Gibson RS . Complementary feeding practices and dietary intakes from complementary foods amongst weanlings in rural Malawi. Eur J Clin Nutr 2001; 55: 841–849.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Motarjemi Y, Kaferstein F, Moy G, Quevedo F . Contaminated weaning food: a major risk factor for diarrhoea and associated malnutrition. Facts Infant Feed 1993; 71: 79–92.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Sheth M, Dwivedi R . Complementary foods associated diarrhoea. Indian J Pediatr 2006; 73: 61–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lanata CF . Studies of food hygiene and diarrhoeal disease. Int J Environ Health Res 2003; 13: S175–S183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Brown KH, Black RE, Lopez de Romana G, Creed de Kanashiro H . Infant-feeding practices and their relationship with diarrhoeal and other diseases in Huascar (Lima), Peru. Pediatrics 1989; 83: 31–40.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Mosha TCE, Laswai HS, Tetens I . Nutritional composition and micronutrient status of homemade and commercial weaning foods consumed in Tanzania. Plant Foods Hum Nutr (Dordrecht, Netherlands) 2000; 55: 185–205.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Anthro WHO. 2005 beta version Feb 17th, 2006: Software for assessing growth and development of the world's children. World Health Organization: Geneva, 2000 Available from http://www.who.int/childgrowth/software/en/.

  15. National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), Mitra and Associates, Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007: National Institute of Population Research and Training, Mitra and Associates, Macro International Inc: Dhaka, Bangladesh, Calverton, MD, USA, 2009.

  16. Islam MA, Heuvelink AE, Talukder KA, Zwietering MH, de Boer E . Evaluation of immunomagnetic separation and PCR for the detection of Escherichia coli O157 in animal feces and meats. J Food Prot 2006; 69: 2865–2869.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Islam MA, Heuvelink AE, de Boer E, Sturm PD, Beumer RR, Zwietering MH . Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolated from patients with diarrhoea in Bangladesh. J Med Microbiol 2007; 56: 380–385.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Frankel G, Giron JA, Valmassoi J, Schoolnik GK . Multi-gene amplification: simultaneous detection of three virulence genes in diarrhoeal stool. Mol Microbiol 1989; 3: 1729–1734.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Lüscher D, Altwegg M . Detection of shigellae, enteroinvasive and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in patients returning from tropical countries. Mol Cell Probes 1994; 8: 285–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kung'u JK, Boor KJ, Ame SM, Ali NS, Jackson AE, Stoltzfus RJ . Bacterial populations in complementary foods and drinking-water in households with children aged 10-15 months in Zanzibar, Tanzania. J Health Popul Nutr 2009; 27: 41–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Grant number PR 42551). International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, b) acknowledges with gratitude the commitment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to its research efforts. ICDDR, b also gratefully acknowledges the following donors, which provide unrestricted support: Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Department for International Development, UK (DFID).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food Safety Research Group, Centre for Nutrition and Food Security, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    M A Islam, T Ahmed, A S G Faruque, S Rahman, S K Das, D Ahmed, H P Endtz & A Cravioto

  2. Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy

    V Fattori & R Clarke

  3. Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    H P Endtz

Authors
  1. M A Islam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T Ahmed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A S G Faruque
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S Rahman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S K Das
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. D Ahmed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. V Fattori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. R Clarke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. H P Endtz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. A Cravioto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M A Islam.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Islam, M., Ahmed, T., Faruque, A. et al. Microbiological quality of complementary foods and its association with diarrhoeal morbidity and nutritional status of Bangladeshi children. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 1242–1246 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.94

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.94

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links