NUTRITIONAL AND MYCOTOXINS CONCERNS IN TRADITIONAL WEANING-BASED AND WEANING FOODS FROM CAMEROON

Traditional weaning foods from Cameroon are typically cereals and/or nuts-based. Weaning babies, likewise infants and young children (<5 years of age), need adequate amounts of safe nutritious balanced diets ensuring a smooth development of body systems. Protein energy malnutrition and hidden hunger, irrespective of age with children under the age of five being the most vulnerable, has been reported and continuously observed in Cameroon. Ironically, inadequate attention is paid to the nutritional value of the weaning foods especially in rural Cameroon. Worse still, natural food contaminants particularly mycotoxins have been reported especially in cereal, nuts and their processed food products from Cameroon with exposure levels of the carcinogenic and immunosuppressive aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1 exceeding the maximum tolerable limits set by the Scientific Committee on Food in 2002 and 2003 for adults. The scenario may be worse in children during the weaning process considering the under-fives and adults in the same household generally feed from the same pot, thereby leaving these infants highly vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies and mycotoxins exposure. Mycotoxin exposure, particularly aflatoxins exposure, is a known risk factor of malnutrition. This review focuses on the nutritional and mycotoxins concerns in Cameroon based on existing reports on nutritive value nutritive and mycotoxins. Attention is mostly paid to reports that focus on weaning foods and/or weaning-based foods (cereals, nuts and/or their processed products) with relevant conclusions which are then extrapolated to health of weaning infants. Finally relevant recommendations are made to improve safety of weaning foods from a nutritional and mycotoxins perspectives.