Nutritional quality of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods: focus on lipid composition and vitamin content

Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is still a public health issue in many low-income and middle-income countries. Its management has changed with the development of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) that are energy-dense, lipid-based, micronutrient-enriched foods. The purpose of the present study was to define some aspects of the nutritional profile (in particular, lipid content, fatty acids profile, lipophilic vitamin content), oxidative status, and mycotoxin content of three RUTF products (of which two manufactured in Asia and one in Europe), at different time points during their storage. All RUTF displayed good lipid stability, with peroxide values < 10 meqO2/kg lipids, acidity index < 0.6 g/100 g lipids, and very low amounts of secondary oxidation volatile compounds. Only the one produced in Europe complied with the international recommendations on vitamin A and E contents. Lipid content ranged from 28.7 ± 0.5 to 41.2 ± 2.4 g/100 g. Oleic acid, palmitic acid, and linoleic acid (47.2 ± 7.4%, 26.8 ± 2.1%, and 12.4 ± 3.9% of total lipids, respectively) were the main fatty acids. Only one of the samples made in Asia exceeded the regulatory limit of mycotoxins. The RUTF lipid phase was rather stable at ambient temperature from 9 to 12 months, and appropriate packaging may have contributed to a major stability.