Giving Sprouted Corn Flour and Red Bean Cookies to Anaemic Toddlers

Abstract

Background and Objective: Cookies made from sprouted corn flour and red beans were developed as a food for toddlers and were formulated to have the required nutritional value to be safely consumed and provide adequate supplementation. This research was conducted to determine the benefit of giving formula cookies made with sprouted corn flour and red beans to anaemic toddlers daily for 60 days. Materials and Methods: Research was conducted in the village of Coral Later, Deli Serdang district and in the Food Technology Laboratory of the Nutrition Department of Lubuk Pakam Poltekkes Kemenkes Medan. This type of research includes a quasi-experimental design with pre-tests and post-tests. Cookies made with sprouted corn flour and red beans were given to toddlers daily for 30 days, providing as much as 100 g of cookies. Before and after the intervention, nutrient consumption data (energy, protein, vitamin C, iron and zinc) was recorded on two consecutive days not during the intervention. The research study sample included as many as 30 toddlers who were anaemic. Cookies were administered to those toddlers with increased levels of blood haemoglobin level and data were analysed mainly using t-tests. Results: The results showed that, of the nutrient intake categories (energy, protein, vitamin C, iron and zinc), most toddlers take in less than 100% of their recommended daily allowance. The average haemoglobin level before the intervention was 10.5 g dL^–1 and the average haemoglobin level after the intervention was 11.8 g dL^–1. Conclusion: The average increases in haemoglobin levels by as much as 1.3 g dL^–1 are statistically significant (p = 0.000).