A Life Saver Called “Plumpynut”

Posted by Kendall Harmon

You've probably never heard a good news story about malnutrition, but you’re about to. Every year, malnutrition kills five million children -- that's one child every six seconds. But now, the Nobel Prize-winning relief group "Doctors Without Borders" says it finally has something that can save millions of these children.

It's cheap, easy to make and even easier to use. What is this miraculous cure? As CNN's Anderson Cooper reports, it's a ready-to-eat, vitamin-enriched concoction called "Plumpynut," an unusual name for a food that may just be the most important advance ever to cure and prevent malnutrition.

"It's a revolution in nutritional affairs," says Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist for Doctors Without Borders.

Another from the long list of have-not-had-time-to-post-yet stuff. Read it all or better yet take the time to watch the video (a little over 11 minutes)




Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Health & Medicine • Hunger/Malnutrition

3 Comments
Posted October 28, 2007 at 5:06 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. robroy wrote:

That was a fantastic video.

Found this morsel at http://www.projectpeanutbutter.org, which is distributing plumpynut in Malawi:

The Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food is a mixture of homogeneous mixture compose of, by weight, 30% milk powder, 28% sugar, 25% peanut paste, 15% oil, and 1.6% vitamin mineral mix. In Malawi, oil, milk, sugar and peanut paste can be acquired in-country. Local production means that only the vitamins and minerals needed to be imported.

I find it wonderful that the lowly peanut whose praises were sung by George Washington Carver is now being used to feed African children. I would like to investigate the application to kids in Haiti. We sponsor a kids from a school that our church adopted.

I wonder if the kids dental health suffers. Of course, this is minor if one saves the child’s life, but sugar and peanut butter seem like it would be worse than the “bottle mouth” kids I see here in the states.

October 28, 10:18 pm | [comment link]
2. KAR wrote:

Thank you for posting this!

October 29, 6:39 am | [comment link]
3. small "c" catholic wrote:

Amazing. I just got back from NYC where my daughter and son live, and learned there’s an entire store devoted the the “American Girls” dolls—even a hospital where, for a price, children can bring their dolls in to have (imaginary) ailments treated. Made my head spin just to think of it. I want to go stand out on the sidewalk and pass out leaflets asking people to buy Plumpynut instead. (not that there aren’t plenty of things I waste my money on).

October 29, 8:12 am | [comment link]
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