Nutrient dense (No sugar and Low sugar) take home ration food mixes for complementary feeding using locally available diverse foods - A comprehensive study on product optimization and effect of food processing on sensorial properties, product acceptability, nutrient retention, bioavailability and shelf-life.

Complementary feeding for infants refers to the timely introduction of nutrient-rich foods in addition to breastfeeding and are needed to fill the gap between the total requirements of the child and the amount provided by breast milk. Inadequate intake in this period and beyond can affect growth, development and metabolism, having longâ€term health effects . Habitual diets of under 2y old children in India are suboptimal, are of low protein quality, as well as low in healthy fats and micronutrient density, which may have undesirable health impacts. Nutrition specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions during this vulnerable period are required to maximize health benefits, as interventions after this period may have little impact. The Government of India has launched a program called the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), which offers a variety of nutrition and health services to impact the first 1,000 days of life and beyond and is implemented by all the state governments. In the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, a predominantly cereal-based blended flour with little amounts of pulses milk powder and plant-based oil and a very high amount of added free sugars (>20%), is provided to 06-35-month-old children which is supplied as a Take-Home Ration (THR).WHO suggests adults and children to lower their daily consumption of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake for good health and recommends further reduction to less than 10% of total energy, as this would provide improved health benefits. Further, ICMR-NIN updated the Indian food composition tables in 2017 and has more recently published the “Nutrient Requirements for Indians†and also created the “My plate for the Day†in 2020, indicating food-based recommendations in terms of the proportion of foods to be sourced from eight diverse essential food groups to meet the nutrient requirements. In line with these recent developments, we wish to develop nutrient-dense food mixes for complementary feeding, one with no added refined sugar and another with low sugar (5-10% by weight), using locally available foods sourced from diverse food groups and test the effects of food processing on their nutrient content, bio-availability, sensory properties and shelf-life. Further, the acceptability of these formulations will be tested in the target group of 12–24-month-old ICDS children. The active control formulation in this study would be the existing THR .