DOST-FNRI continuously develops food commodities that will aid hunger and malnutrition. One of their innovations is the reformulation of nutribun that was first introduced by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the 1970s.
Nutribun of USAID was designed as a “ready-to-eat complete meal” for public elementary school feeding programs to combat child undernutrition in the Philippines.
The DOST-FNRI’s reformulation of nutribun gave rise to the Enhanced Nutribun that contains more micronutrients such as iron and vitamin A and has a softer texture. Enhanced Nutribun comes in different variants: squash, carrot and yellow sweet potato.
Recently this year, the DOST-FNRI has launched new sweet potato variants of Enhanced Nutribun – the orange and purple sweet potato.
The sweet potato can be considered as an excellent novel source of natural health‐promoting compounds, such as beta‐carotene and anthocyanins. The sweet potato variant is an excellent source of natural fiber, energy, protein, iron, calcium, potassium, and zinc, has zero trans-fatty acids, and has no cholesterol.
The Enhanced Nutribun weighs 160 - 165 grams per piece. It contains 504 calories, 17.8 grams protein, 6.08 milligrams iron and 244 micrograms vitamin A. The new variants are similarly a nutrient-dense bread product supplemented with orange and purple sweet potato as the raw material to improve its nutrient content.
The development of the Enhanced Nutribun sweet potato variant is part of the continuous efforts of the DOST-FNRI in providing more nutritious and delicious options for supplementary feeding programs in the country.
Written by: NO II Bianca Estrella
References:
Bovell‐Benjamin, A.C. (2007). Sweet Potato: A Review of its Past, Present, and Future Role in Human Nutrition. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1043452606520017
DOST-FNRI. (2021). DOST-FNRI launches Enhanced Nutribun Sweet Potato variant. Retrieved from: https://fnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php/programs-and-projects/news-and-announcement/818-dost-fnri-launches-enhanced-nutribun-sweet-potato-variant
DOST-FNRI (2022). New Enhanced Nutribun Variants Launched! OooPs… Orange and Purple Sweetpotato naman! Retrieved from: https://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php/programs-and-projects/news-and-announcement/825-dost-fnri-s-buwanang-ulat-ng-direktor-january
Orillos, J.B. (2018). Esquire : A History of the Nutribun, the Well-Intentioned Bread from the '70s. Retrieved from: https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/nutribun-history-a1623-20180921-lfrm
