Introduction: There is growing interest in using indigenous crops as alternative food sources that can address food and nutrition insecurity in developing countries. This study aimed to evaluate the nutrient content and sensory characteristics of crackers developed from indigenous pigmented corn (Zea mays L.) called camotes. Methods: Eleven camotes and all-purpose flour (APF) combinations were made into crackers following the modified method of Manley (2001) at University of the Philippines Los Baños. Sensory evaluation was conducted using the linear scale of quality scoring based on standard methods. Proximate composition analysis, nutrient contents and phytochemical components were conducted using standard methods. Data from the sensory evaluation were analysed using non-parametric Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), while results from the chemical analysis were analysed using One-Way ANOVA and Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test. Results: Sensory characteristics of the cracker containing 80% camotes flour were comparable with those of the 100% APF cracker except in colour. Crackers containing 100% and 80% camotes flour had significantly higher levels of protein, dietary fibre, lysine, tryptophan, zinc, antioxidant activity, phenols, and flavonoids than crackers made of 100% APF. Conclusion: Crackers formulated at 80:20 camotes:APF blend compares most favourably with that from APF crackers. Incorporation of camotes flour into making of crackers increases its nutrient content. Such crackers can serve as a nutrient-dense alternative food source to address the food and nutrition insecurity situation in the Philippines.

BACKGROUND: The Philippines adopted the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that serves as the government's flagship social assistance program for the poor. This provides short-term income support to poor families while investing on health and education to overcome future poverty.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to characterize the beneficiary and non-beneficiary households and evaluate the impact of 4Ps program on housing facilities and diet diversity.

METHODS: Quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate survey outcomes between 91 randomly sampled beneficiaries and 91 completely enumerated non-beneficiaries (incoming grantees). FANTA Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) was used as an indicator for dietary diversity while structured questionnaire on housing profile was based on BIDANI and CEM-UPLB tools.

RESULTS: The 4Ps beneficiaries had significantly higher maternal education, household size (?=0.038), and improved water source (?=0.004) than non-beneficiaries. Cash transfer among 4Ps households provided 11% increase in the average monthly income of P7,324 pre-transfer. Diet diversity using FANTA scoring (0-12) showed that nonbeneficiaries were significantly lower by 0.4 than 4Ps score of 7.9 (?=0.003). Maternal education was found to have significant positive correlation with diet diversity. Both groups had high cereals and fats intake (>90%) while low in complex carbohydrates and legumes (<31%).

CONCLUSION: The 4Ps had positive correlation on housing profile and diet diversity among beneficiaries. Family Development Session should integrate practical methods on improving variety of foods, specifically, the low consumption food groups. Additionally, a review on the selection criteria based on the provincial poverty threshold vis a vis income of grantees must be implemented to accurately target intended beneficiaries.

Objective: The study aimed to determine the concentration of three heavy metals namely, lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) present in head, stomach and muscle parts of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticu) and Blackchin Tilapia (Sarotherodon melanotheron) collected from different sampling sites in South Bay area of Laguna Lake and evaluate its potential health risk for adult consumers. Methods: Live samples of Nile Tilapia and Blackchin Tilapia were hand-collected from three sites of South Bay of Laguna Lake during wet season. Raw and boiled samples were prepared for analysis. Heavy metal concentrations (mg kg-1) were determined through flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The potential health risk posed by more than one metal was calculated using the Total Hazard Quotient (THQ). Results: The heavy metal detected with the highest concentration was Pb, present in Nile Tilapia. The mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Cr in both fish samples were high in the head part. Boiled samples have significantly lower concentrations of heavy metal (p<0.05) compared to raw samples. THQ values for Cd in raw fish samples were higher than the recommended level of exposure (THQ < 1.0). Conclusion The study revealed that cadmium is of greater concern in terms of possible adverse health effects associated with heavy metal bioaccumulation. However, the presence of other metals may further increase the risk of non-carcinogenic adverse effects. The lower health risk is predicted for boiled fish samples.
Metals, Heavy ; Cichlids

Introduction: There is a high prevalence of malnutrition in Cambodia during the past 10 years. One of the programmes implemented to secure household food security in order to alleviate malnutrition was home gardening. This study aimed to compare the nutritional status of 2 to 5 years old children in households with and without home gardens. Methods: Twenty-five households with home gardens and 60 households without home gardens were sampled. Results: The households sampled had a mixed type of home garden with three to five crop varieties occupying 20 to 200 square meters area. The purpose of the garden was to increase vegetable consumption and produce additional income. Results showed that 72% and 65% of the children resided in households with and without home gardens, respectively. Majority had medium dietary diversity score, i.e. consumed four to five different food groups per day. Except for stunting, higher prevalences of undernutrition (32%) and wasting (8%) were observed among children residing in households with home gardens compared to children in households without home gardens. Conclusion: There were no associations for dietary diversity score and nutritional status of children from households with and without home gardens. Among the sociodemographic and economic factors, age, sex, family size, and vegetable consumption were significantly associated with dietary diversity score and nutritional status of the children.

Background: Filipino farmers recorded the highest incidence of poverty in the last decade. In addition, a heightened awareness was observed within agriculture and different government agencies to better understand the link between agriculture and nutrition. However, limited studies have been conducted in the Philippines integrating nutritionsensitive agriculture into the Municipal Agricultural Development Plan (MADP). Objectives: This study aims to determine the effect of capacity building on the knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of municipal agriculturists on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) in CALABARZON. Methods: This study utilized a non-randomized controlled trial design to measure the change in knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of the municipal agriculturists on NSA and nutrition sensitivity of the MADP. A total of 57 municipal agriculturists from CALABARZON participated in the capacity building. Results: Local agriculture planners' knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy significantly improved after capacity building. In addition, membership of municipal agriculturists to local nutrition committee was significantly associated with higher scores difference in knowledge and self-efficacy after the training. Meanwhile, the score difference in their attitude was significantly related to the tenure of employment in local agriculture planners. Conclusion Capacity building on the NSA can significantly improve local agriculture planners' knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy. Thus, the government must support programs and initiatives concerning the NSA, like increasing the capacity of local agriculture planners. This will allow them to integrate nutrition-sensitive agriculture concepts positively into their agriculture development plan.
agriculture ; food security ; capacity building