Journal of Food Research; Vol. 3, No. 2; 2014 ISSN 1927-0887 E-ISSN 1927-0895 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 43 Evaluative Studies on the Impact of an Extruded Soy-Cocoa Based Complementary Diet on Growth of the Undernourished Child Gibson Lucky Arueya 1 , Oyediran Emmanuel Oyewole 2 & Oluwatooyin Faramade Osundahunsi 3 1 Department of Food Technology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria 2 Department of Health Promotion and Education; Adjunct, Department of Human Nutrition, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria 3 Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Nigeria Correspondence: Gibson Lucky Arueya, Department of Food Technology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Tel: 234-805-954-6297. E-mail: arueyagibson@yahoo.com Received: January 6, 2014 Accepted: February 5, 2014 Online Published: February 8, 2014 doi:10.5539/jfr.v3n2p43 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jfr.v3n2p43 Abstract Undernutrition among children under five remains widespread culminating predominantly in linear growth deficits (≤ -2SD Units) with its attendant setbacks. Food-based interventions aimed at completely reversing this phenomenon have not had significant impact. Exploring novel dietary interventions has therefore become necessary. A standard centrally processed food (soyflour + cocoa + corn starch) was subjected to efficacy trial. Using a pretest-posttest controlled experimental design, the impact of the diet was determined on 30 (randomly selected) undernourished children (aged 6-24 months) at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Clinic, Oni Memorial children’s Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Anthropometric, Biochemical and haematological measurements were conducted over a two month duration including follow-up observations according to standard methods. Results of mean values (cm/month) of linear growth velocity observed for intervention (2.59 ± 2.2) was higher and significantly different from control (0.94 ± 0.08) (p ≤ 0.05). Elimination of linear growth deficits (≤ - 2SD units) was successful in 75% and 30% of test subjects aged 6-12 months and 12-24 months respectively using WHO (2006) child growth standard as reference. These outcomes were at variance from the control (p ≤ 0.05) where deficits persisted. Serum Albumin normalized, having risen by 21.8% in the intervention from 35.5 g/L but contrasted sharply with control’s 4.4% rise from 33.9g/L. Haemoglobin values attained 6.96 mmol/L (Intervention) and 6.14 mmol/L (control) following a similar trend. The impact of an extruded soy-cocoa based complementary diet has been evaluated and found to be effective in reducing linear growth deficits in children under age two especially those between 6-12 months. Its use for Nutrition rehabilitation is recommended. Keywords: undernutrition, child, soy-cocoa, complementary food, linear-growth-deficit 1. Introduction An estimated 870 million people around the world are perceived as undernourished which includes some 165 million under-fives believed to be stunted or chronically malnourished as well as more than 100 million considered underweight (UNICEF, 2013). Under-nutrition (poor nutrition) has been a long standing experience of many children in low and middle income countries especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (Walker et al., 2011). The common indicators include stunting (reduced height-for-age), under-weight (reduced weight-for-age) and wasting (weight-for-height below standard). It wreaks havoc on the body and has been implicated as the major underlying cause of death among pre-school children under five (Pelletier & Frongillo, 2003). For children who survive severe under-nutrition, the scars linger into adulthood, and are reflected in small body size with the attendant functional consequences of diminished work capacity, obstetric risk for women as well as poor scholastic and intellectual performance (WHO, 1995). Evidently no nation can afford a generation of men and women incapable of realizing their full genetic potential. The negative economic impact on National development is too enormous to be ignored: direct losses in productivity from poor physical status; indirect losses from poor cognitive function and losses owing to increased health costs (Baudouy & Sarbib, 2006).