Fortified Indian Snack May Help Solve India’s Child Nutrition Problem

A nutrient-dense version of a traditional Indian snack could go a long way toward relieving the child malnutrition problem in the country. About 45,000 children die of malnutrition in the state of Maharashtra each year. In a recent pilot study, half of the participating children were diagnosed as severely malnourished. For the study, a researcher developed a recipe for laddoos, donut-hole shaped snacks served at Indian festivals, consisting of whole wheat flour, roasted peanuts, milk, cardamom, butter, sesame seed, and cane juice pressed into cakes. During the study, more than half of the children who regularly ate the fortified laddoos went from severely malnourished to moderately malnourished.