Nutritional impact

APHLIS postharvest loss figures have been combined with food composition data to determine the quantities of macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats), calories and micronutrients (including iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin A and C) lost annually due to postharvest losses of the different crops in each sub-Saharan African country.

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The text sections below explain what the user is seeing when looking at this data from left to right across the screen, and what selections they can make. A country-level location, crop and year must be selected in order to display data, depending of the country selected one of the food composition tables will be automatically selected based on the focal geographical region, although the user can select any of the other food composition tables if they wish (see Food Composition table text below for further details).

Nutrients the different nutrients are listed in the first column. 

Quantity lost postharvest the quantity of each nutrient lost postharvest for the selected country, crop and year combination is displayed in the second column. APHLIS postharvest loss figures have been combined with food composition data to determine the quantities of macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats), calories and micronutrients (including iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin A and C) lost annually due to postharvest losses of the different crops in each sub-Saharan African country. Details on the food composition tables used is given further below.

Number of people's annual nutritional requirements lost by dividing the quantity of each nutrient that is lost by the annual recommended dietary intake of an weighted average person in the selected country, the postharvest loss is presented as the 'Number of people's annual nutrient requirements that are lost', this is displayed in the third column.

% of population's annual nutritional requirements lost by dividing the number of people's whose annual nutrient requirements are lost by the population of the selected country, the % of the population who annual nutritional requirements are lost postharvest can be calculated and this is displayed in the fourth column. 

Selected life stage group what the quantity of the selected crop that is lost postharvest means nutritionally for specific lifestage groups is displayed in the fifth and sixth columns. Users can select which lifestage group to study this for, using the gender and age group selector fields. When the focal lifestage group selected is for women of reproductive age (ie 14-18, 19-30, or 31-50 years) the user can also select whether their focal interest group is for pregnant, or breastfeeding, or neither pregnant nor breastfeeding women. Please note in the nutritional losses tab, the impact of the nutritional loss data can also be viewed in terms of three focal groups (weighted average persons, women of reproductive age (14-50 years), and children (7 months - 4 years)).

Number of people in focal life-stage group's annual nutrient requirements lost by dividing the quantity of each nutrient that is lost by the annual recommended dietary intake of a focal life-stage group person in the selected country, the postharvest loss is presented as the 'Number of people in focal life-stage group's annual nutrient requirements that are lost', this is displayed in the fifth column.

% of focal lifestage group population's annual nutrients requirements lost by dividing the number of persons of the focal lifestage group whose annual nutrient requirements are lost by the population of that focal life-stage group in the selected country, the % of the focal life-stage group population's who annual nutritional requirements are lost postharvest can be calculated and this is displayed in the sixth column.

Food composition tables

Food composition tables provide data on the amounts of the nutritionally important components of different foods and crops. Food composition data include energy values, and nutrients such as carbohydrate, protein, fat, dietary fibre, calcium, iron, zinc, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C.

However, different varieties of a crop may differ in terms of the relative amounts of nutrients they contain, due to genetic differences, additionally the soil and climate conditions during crop production can significantly influence the nutrient content of crops. To date, detailed data sets of the nutrient composition of different varieties grown under different conditions or in different locations are not available. To try and help account for some of the varietal difference between regions, the APHLIS nutritional postharvest loss (NPHL) tool uses data from four food composition tables to provide representative nutrient composition data for the focal crops, these are the Tanzania, West Africa, Lesotho, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) datasets described below.  Depending on the country the user has selected, the food composition data from the Tanzania, West Africa or Lesotho dataset will be automatically selected based on geographical regions. If desired, the user can instead select one of the other food composition tables or the USDA table. Additional food composition tables or datasets can be added, please contact the APHLIS team regarding this. 

Tanzania, 2008 by selecting the Tanzania, 2008 food composition table the impact of the quantity of nutrients lost postharvest will be calculated based on the composition of the selected crop as shown in this food composition table. Muhimbili University of Health and Allie Sciences, Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Harvard School of Public Health, (2008). Tanzania Food Composition Tables. 272 pp. Compiled by Lukmanji, Z., Hertzmark, E., Mlingi, N., Assey, V., Ndossi, G., Fawzi., W..

West Africa, 2012 by selecting the West Africa, 2012 food composition table the impact of the quantity of nutrients lost postharvest will be calculated based on the composition of the selected crop as shown in this food composition table. FAO, INFOODS, WAHO, Bioversity International, (2012). West African Food Composition Table (2012). pp 171. http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2698b/i2698b00.pdf.

Lesotho, 2006 by selecting the Lesotho, 2006 food composition table the impact of the quantity of nutrients lost postharvest will be calculated based on the composition of the selected crop as shown in this food composition table. Lephole, M.M., Khaketla, M.C., Monoto, M.E., (2006). Lesotho Food Composition Table. 1st edition. 127pp..

USDA, 2018 by selecting the USDA, 2018 food composition table the impact of the quantity of nutrients lost postharvest will be calculated based on the composition of the selected crop as shown in this food composition table. USDA, (2018). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Legacy April 2018 Software v.3.9.4.4 2018-07-18 https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?home=true.

Recommended nutrient dietary intakes

Details of the sources of the recommended dietary intake values for each nutrient are given below.

Energy annual Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) for Active Physical Activity Level used from 4 year old life-stage group onwards using reference body weights based on healthy body mass index. [Source: Institute of Medicine (IoM), 2005]

Carbohydrate figures based on 62.5% of energy from carbohydrates, using FAO/WHO (2007) scientific update on carbohydrates in human nutrition, which recommends 50-75%E from carbohydrates [Source: FAO/WHO, 2007]

Protein figures based on per kg Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) and reference body weights [Source: IoM, 2005]

Fat figures for life-stages of >1 years old use FAO guidelines of 20-35% of energy from fat [Source: FAO (2010)]. Figures for 0-12 month olds from IoM (2005).

Fibre, total dietary based on an adequate intake (AI) values of (14g fibre/1,000kcal/d) [Source: IoM, 2005]

Calcium, Ca figures use EARs (>1 year olds) or AIs (0-12 months olds) for specified lifestage group [Source: IoM, 2011]

Iron, Fe figures use EARs (>1 year olds) or AIs (0-12 months olds) for specified lifestage group [Source: IoM, 2011], converted to reflect the assumption of 12% iron bioavailability in diets with some haem iron and vit C as per Nutrition for Developing Countries (NDC) (2015) assumptions.

Zinc, Zn figures use EARs (>1 year olds) or AIs (0-12 months olds) for specified lifestage group [Source: IoM, 2011], converted to reflect the assumption of low zinc bioavailability in heavily cereal-based diets [Source: NDC, 2015; Governments of Australia and New Zealand, 2019]

Folate, total figures use EARs (>1 year olds) or AIs (0-12 months olds) for specified lifestage group [Source: IoM, 2011]

Vitamin A (RAE) figures use EARs (>1 year olds) or AIs (0-12 months olds) of retinol activity equivalents (RAEs) for specified lifestage group. 1 RAE = 1mcg retinol, 12 mcg beta-carotene, 24 mcg alpha-carotene, or 24 mcg beta-cryptoxanthin [Source: IoM, 2011]

Vitamin C figures use EARs (>1 year olds) or AIs (0-12 months olds) for specified lifestage group [Source: IoM, 2011]

Focal life-stage groups

All people this focal group looks at the nutritional impact on children of both sexes in the following age groups:

• 1–3 years old
• 4–8 years old

Female this focal group looks at the nutritional impact on women of the following age groups:

• 9–13 years
• 14–18 years (user can select the pregnancy or breastfeeding status of women of this age group from: Neither pregnant nor breastfeeding, or Pregnant, or Breastfeeding)
• 19–30 years (user can select the pregnancy or breastfeeding status of women of this age group from: Neither pregnant nor breastfeeding, or Pregnant, or Breastfeeding)
• 31–50 years (user can select the pregnancy or breastfeeding status of women of this age group from: Neither pregnant nor breastfeeding, or Pregnant, or Breastfeeding)
• 51–70 years
• Over 70 years

Male this focal group looks at the nutritional impact on men of the following age groups:

• 9–13 years
• 14–18 years
• 19–30 years
• 31–50 years
• 51–70 years
• Over 70 years