Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 16:50:38 +0000

From: Clara Takaki Brandao

Subject: Ngonut: information

Dear Colleagues:

My name is Clara Takaki Brandao, I am a brasilien doctor and for more than 20 years I have been working hard to minimize malnutrition and hunger in the communities here in Brazil.

The Program I lead is mainly based on a dietary supplement that is made from parts of foods that are usually thrown away, like cassava leaves, wheat and rice bran, seeds, egg shell, etc; it is a concentration of vitamins and minerals which increases the value of the available food of the family.

This supplement is prepared by the communities and we teach mothers to use it in the daily food of the family, without changing the habits or the taste of the food.

For more than 20 years I have seen that the results are spectacular: children recover their health and strength and morbidity and mortality among both mothers and children are much reduced.

However, these procedures contradict current paediatric thinking mainly because it gives freedom and power to the mothers and communities.

What I would like to know is that if you can help me to locate and contact colleagues doing similar work in the world, information about experiences with similar programs, information about those issues, for me to share my experiences and increase the results of my work.

I thank you very much and I wish you all the best

My compliments

Clara Takaki Brandão

Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 15:50:26 +0000

From: Wendy Snowdon snowdon" <snowdonatmail.fm>

Subject: Re: Ngonut: leaves

For Clara Takaki Brandão

My name is Wendy Snowdon, a nutritionist/dietitian from UK.

In 1991-2 i worked fro a small UK based NGO called Find Your Feet. Their programmes consisted of working in a few small villages in India, Bangladesh and South America to try to improve nutrition.

They focused on producing something called leaf concentrate from local leaves and using this as a nutritional supplement.

Basically - take any edible leaves, grind with water, squeeze out juice.

Bring juice to boil. Skim off curd that forms on top. Press and that is it.

It is high in protein, B carotene and iron and feeding trials in these places showed good effect on children given around 5-10g per day. It was green but was disguised in pastries, or just mixed with sugar and put on a biscuit.

The dry matter made excellent food fro animals, and the left over liquid was a good fertiliser.

The idea was that it could be self -sustaining by selling by-products, so the aim was to train locals to produce and then leave to continue. Whilst the theory was good it never seemed to quite work.

In Bangladesh it was good as we used water hyacinth which really is a weed there and needed clearing.

The idea is so good - it seems a shame never more widely adopted.

Hope this is helpful

Wendy

Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 15:51:37 +0000

From: "Dr. Hanaa Ismail" <ismailattecmina.com>

Subject: Ngonut: locally available food

To Clara Takaki Brandão and Wendy Snowdon

We are interested in starting a food based approach to help in the alleviation of Vit A and PEM amongst children living in Urban slums .This is based upon local available food and supplementing using again available commodities.

Could you please send me some information on the work done by Find Your Feet and some way of communicating with them re the brilliant idea of leaves.

Dr Hanaa Ismail

Professor-Food Analysis.

Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 16:40:19 +0000

From: Michael Golden <refugeesatabdn.ac.uk>

Subject: Ngonut: leaf protein concentrates.

The idea of using leaf protein originated during the 2nd world war by Dr Bill Pirie at Rothamstead Agricultural Research Centre in the UK when it looked as if there would be a need for extra food in the Uk. He went on to develop the technology in the 1950's . A plant was designed for making leaf-protein from Lucern and Alfalfa by Professor Thring. His son, John Thring, who is an engineer and worked with his father has all the plans and details (write to 48 Carleton Road, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF8 3NF) and was the force behind a commercial company established in 1977 to produce leaf-protein but closed down after one year because it became uneconomic to produce this product within Europe at that time, and proposals for a plant in Nigeria fell through.

Pirie had produced some isotopically labelled leaf-protein ([15]Nitrogen) at Rothamstead and this was tested by John Waterlow in recovering malnourished children in Jamaica - the results were published in: Waterlow JC. 1962 The absorption and retention of nitrogen from leaf protein by infants recovering from malnutrition. British Journal of Nutrition 1962: 16; 531-540.

The protein from this source seems to be of excellent quality in treating malnourished children.

The idea has been revived by the Charity "Leaf for Life" - but cannot put my hands on the specifications or analytical results at the moment. I had thought that it would be a great source of magnesium (chlorophyll is a magnesium containing porphoryn), but I understand that the magnesium content of the final product is not spectacular; although the extraction methods may degrade some of the vitamins there are very significant levels of carotene, iron and calcium as well as protein: and there is not a problem with phytic acid or other inhibitors of absorption.

This is potentially a very valuable and cheap source of food. And I am sure that a research effort would be rewarded. The protein production figures are impressive - cereal 204kg/acre, oilseeds 356kg/acre, grass 1171kg/acre, lucerne 1222kg/acre - and the technology is adaptable to a tropical environment and, importantly, to small scale production. One farmer in South West England produces it on his own farm for the "health-food industry".

Of course, the leaves themselves must not contain toxic principles so that all types of leaves cannot be used. - or perhaps I should say there would be alternative uses, for example, for concentrates from ganja (marihuana) extracts (smile).

Prof. Michael H.N.Golden

Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 10:43:34 +0000

From: Remi Sogunro <Rembascsatzamnet.zm>

Subject: Ngonut: locally prepared supplements

This is great work you are doing. How often is this nutritional demonstration practiced in the community where you are working? Daily, Weekly, Monthly. I am asking because we have a similar program in Zambia that we are trying to evaluate. This Nutritional supplementation is done once a month for all children in the catchment area of a health center.

Proponents of the program have indicated that it is a good and effective activity. However, some of us feel that the demonstration should be tailored to families of children who are failing to grow. I firmly believe that the results will be more spectacular if the program targets those who are indeed in need of nutritional advice.

Dr. Remi Sogunro, Chief of Party, BASICS Project, Zambia

Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 10:10:27 +0000

From: "Dr. Nevin Scrimshaw" <nevinatcyberportal.net>

Subject: Re: leaf protein concentrates.

In addition to Michael Golden's excellent reply on leaf protein concentrate, there is a book by Pirie on the subject that you should be able to find on the Internet. The former Protein Advisory Group explored the practicality of LPC extensively in the 1960s. There was no doubt about its nutritional value, but it faltered on the basis of two problems.

1. Acceptability of the green product - The taste appealed only to enthusiasts. It could be disguised to some extent in various foods but not the green color. Of course hungry people may not object.

2. Cost - Pirie never provided realistic cost figures, and even at the village level it is labor intensive. It is technically feasible to produce a nutritious colorless product of neutral taste, but the cost them become prohibitive.

In summary its potential has always remained that, despite enormous promotional efforts by Pirie, because of the above practical limitations.

Nevin Scrimshaw, United Nations University

Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 10:11:09 +0000

From: Wendy Snowdon "snowdon" <snowdonatmail.fm>

Subject: Re: leaf protein concentrates.

Further to Michael Golden's message, I believe that much research has been done on which can and can't be used safely. Leaves that are commonly eaten e.g. spinach can obviously be used without problems. However research has shown that other leaves not commonly eaten such as the water hyacinth in Bangladesh, after this simple processing seem to be harmless. The ideal scenario I would think for any country that might be considering producing leaf concentrate is

- establish what local leaves are available and conduct tests on the leaf concentrate for toxicity

- establish if buy-products of production of leaf concentrate (the liquid and dry matter) can be sold locally - if this is possible then production could be financially viable.

- consider how the concentrate might be consumed or distributed - the green colour is a problem. In some places a dried pasta has been acceptable in other places enclosing the concentrate in a pastry to cover the colour has worked.

Much research has been done on the bioavailability of the B carotene and iron in the concentrate, and it has been shown to be quite high.

I will try to get address fro Find Your Feet.

Another contact would be Professor Matai, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta (he has done research in this area) and Dr Wahed, ICCDR-B, Dhaka <wahedatcis.icddrb.org>

Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 11:08:39 +0100

From: "Egal, Florence (ESNP)" <Florence.Egalatfao.org>

Subject: Leaf concentrate

Since this topic seems to interest many people, you may want to read a 5-page article entitled "Leaf concentrate: a good source to control vitamin A deficiency" by R.N. Joshi, from the University of Aurangabad, India, published in the Sight and Life Newsletter 4/1998. It's quite interesting and gives information on processing and equipment.

Florence Egal

Nutrition Programmes Service, Food and Nutrition Division, FAO

via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00144 Rome Italy

tel (+39) 06 570.53126, fax (+39) 06 570.54593

email florence.egalatfao.org

from: Clara Brandão

12.07.98

The supplement we use is a daily powder added to the normal diet of the

people and it doesn't change the flavor of the food.

It is a dietary supplement that looks like flour, made in the community

from parts of food that are usually thrown away.

We call it multimixture, and it is basically composed by :

rice and wheat bran, dark green leaf powder (sweet potato or manioc),

seed power (pumpkin, watermelon) and egg shell powder.

It is almost a free cost product and has the nutrients concentrate

basic to the well functioning of the body and the balance of the

organism, not only trough the presence of the nutrients (iron, calcium,

zinc, magnesium, vitamins A, B, B2, C, etc) but trough the proportion in

which they are found.

And everybody will benefit from it because it is added in the family

food.

I would like to know more about your program in Zambia, if possible if

you can send us documents, scientific studies of the products you

use, the way you evaluate your program, etc.

All the best

From: Wendy Snowdon "snowdon" <snowdonatmail.fm>

Subject: Ngonut: RE : Find Your Feet

Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 16:33:52 +1100

The contact for Find Your Feet the UK charity who deals with leaf concentrate is

Telephone - England 0171 401 8794

Fax - England - 0171 771 7226

Email : fyfatgn.apc.org

Wendy Snowdon

UNICEF Health & Nutrition Adviser Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia