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Why Food is Not Enough


© Remco Bohle


International food aid today relies heavily on fortified blended foods to improve the quality of children’s diets. Over 450,000 tons of such food, mostly in the form of a fortified corn-soy blend (CSB), was distributed in 2006.

Fortified blended foods however have serious limitations at targeting malnutrition in children under the age of three:

  • Fortified blended foods are not particularly dense either in calories or in nutrients.
  • Even though the blends are fortified with nutrients, they rarely include all of those needed by a malnourished child, and the levels of fortification are often inadequate or inappropriate.
  • In addition, the cereal and soy components have anti-nutrient factors that reduce the utility of fortification, as they make absorption of nutrients difficult.


If any of the 40 essential nutrients are deficient in a young child’s diet, it will greatly impact the function of their immune system, and their ability to resist disease. If nutritional deficiencies become intense a child will begin to waste – to consume its own tissues to obtain needed nutrients.

Deprived of essential nutrients a young child will stop growing. Those that survive are often scarred by long-term consequences that include stunted growth and developmental delays, as well as an increased risk of chronic disease and lower life expectancies as adults.

Read more

What is malnutrition

MSF and malnutrition

Global burden of malnutrition