Role of healthy extruded snacks to mitigate malnutrition

ABSTRACT

Malnutrition is directly linked to the economic and social living standard of the people. It is the major cause of morbidity and mortality among the children, especially in the developing countries. The world population is projected to grow to around 9 billion by 2050 which will further escalate malnutrition. Snacks are becoming more and more popular and have a strong association with nutritional status of the young population. Extruded snacks have very low moisture (4–6%) and water activity (0.138) making them shelf stable. Shelf stable, nutrient dense products deemed to be ideal to alleviate malnutrition in the developing world. It is important to consider these healthy snacks for the provision of macro and micronutrients especially to the nutritionally vulnerable segment of population. Modern extrusion technologies have paved the way to use various nutrient-rich constituents to make attractive products. Analysis of supercritical fluid extrusion processed snacks has resulted in superior physical and textural properties while retaining the added macro and micronutrients. Nutrient-rich snacks produced through extrusion processing have been used for nutrition interventions along with community-based educational campaigns to mitigate malnutrition. This literature pertains the prevalence of malnutrition along with the usefulness of healthy extruded snacks against malnutrition.

KEYWORDS:

• Malnutrition
• Snacks
• Extrusion
• Nutrient delivery
• Nutrient stability