Plumpy'nut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plumpy'nut

A recent report by 60-minutes examines this “miracle food”:

Every year, 5 million children die worldwide from malnutrition. That’s one child every six seconds. Now, the relief group Doctors Without Borders says it has something that can save millions of these children. It’s called “Plumpy’nut” – a ready to eat and cheap to produce food that might be the most important advance ever in the fight against malnutrition. Anderson Cooper saw the benefits of plumpy’nut firsthand in the African nation of Niger.

Here are the food specifications provided by the World Food Programme:

Plumpy’Nut [Nutriset] Formula:

• Peanut Butter
• Dry Skim Milk
• Lactoserum
• Malto-dextrine
• Sugar
• Minerals & Vitamins

Composition (per 100g):

• Energy 545 kcal
• Proteins: 13.6g
• Fat: 35.7g

Minerals (per 100g):

• Sodium: <290>
• Calcium: 300 mg
• Phosphorus: 300 mg
• Magnesium: 92 mg
• Zinc: 14 mg
• Iodine: 100 mcg
• Potassium: 1,111 mg
• Copper: 1.8 mg
• Selenium: 30 mcg
• Iron: 11.5 mg

Vitamins (per 100g):

• Vit A: 910 mcg
• Vit D: 16 mcg
• Vit E: 20 mg
• Vit K: 21 mcg
• Vit C: 53 mg
• Vit B1: 0.6 mg
• Vit B2: 1.8 mg
• Niacin: 5.3 mg
• Vit B6: 0.6 mg
• Ac. Folic: 210 mcg
• Vit B12: 1.8 mcg
• Biotin : 65 mcg
• Ac. Panto: 3.1 mg

Oddly enough, this formulation is patented. One cannot make this food to sell or, I think, to even be given away by a nonprofit corporation. The amount of milk powder in each packet is made from a glass of milk. The total energy content of a serving is 500 kcal.

This is also an interesting link concerning Plumpy'Nut. In this link and other links, it is claimed that the recipe uses vegetable oil. Another link claims it is soybean oil. This might not be the best choice of oil, since soybean oil consumption tends to lower thyroid activity. A better choice might be coconut oil since it will not lower thyroid activity but also has antibacterial and antivirus activity. Also coconut oil will be more effective against spoilage and will not go rancid.

Plumpy'nut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia