University of Georgia helps starving children

Trekking from Griffin to Ghana, University of Georgia scientists have developed a protein-packed infant food that is saving the lives of malnourished children.

UGA's Griffin-based Department of Food Science and Technology collaborated with the University of Ghana-Legon to develop an easy-to-cook mixture made from the African nation's indigenous crops. The mixture of cowpeas - known as black-eyed peas in Georgia - peanuts and corn has already been introduced to several villages in Ghana, and UGA professor Dick Phillips said the results are dramatic.

''In one very poor village there was a particular child who was identified as being very malnourished, and though she was 3 years old, she was not walking,'' said Phillips. ''... Now she's up walking around, running, playing, like a normal child.''

Parents in Ghana traditionally feed their newly weaned children cereal-based foods that often lead to swollen stomachs and hair loss - visible signs of malnutrition that are seemingly everywhere, said Phillips. In fact, malnutrition, which in some cases leads to death, has become so routine for newly weaned children that the local translation for the word ''malnutrition'' means ''the disease a child gets when a younger child is born,'' according to Phillips.

''I think that is one of the more striking definitions that I've ever run into,'' he said. ''It's extremely evocative.''

Phillips' work, in concert with the university in Ghana, is a collaborative effort sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a foreign assistance program run by the federal government.

''We realized that one way to improve nutrition in developing countries was to put intensive research into already developed crops,'' said Phillips, who worked with a university in Nigeria for 10 years to develop several village mills that could process cowpeas into flour.

Kay McWaters, a UGA agriculture research scientist in Griffin, helped prepare UGA graduate student Yvonne Mensa-Wilmot, a native of Ghana, to bring the infant food to women in villages throughout Ghana. Mensa-Wilmot, who has already returned to her native Ghana, roamed the country polling mothers to make sure they liked the appearance, color and texture of the food.

''Yes, yes they loved it, and the convenience of it,'' said McWaters, who noted that preparation of the food, like oatmeal or instant grits, requires only hot water. ''... It's very gratifying.''

And the fact that the food is easy to prepare is essential in a country where the women are overworked, added Phillips.

''Women really carry the load in developing countries for lots of complicated reasons,'' said Phillips. ''Our ideas have been that if we can alleviate that work, it will help the whole society.''

Professors and students based in Ghana are currently distributing the food to some villages, and educating folks about the need to eat protein-rich food. But now the two universities are trying to find promising entrepreneurs in Ghana, who can set-up small mills and local cooperatives in order to produce the infant food at a low price. Only then, said Phillips, will the food spread to all those who need it.

''In order for this to work, we are encouraging small-scale entrepreneurship,'' said Phillips. ''A little company would be able to produce this mixture and be able to sell it at an affordable price.'' And for Phillips, the 20-year journey to bring convenient and healthy foods to Africa has been a rewarding experience.

''When I started this 20 years ago I'd hardly been out of the country,'' he said. ''It's been a real eye-opening and life-altering sequence of events and it is very gratifying on many levels.''