Biodiverse food solutions to enhance complementary feeding

In her recent editorial, Dr. de Pee (2015) states there
are two main ways to provide additional nutrients
during complementary feeding: fortification and supplementation.
She illustrates some problems associated with these ‘solutions’, including lack of compliance. Rather than conclude that lipidbased nutrient supplements (LNS) and ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) may thus be ineffective, de Pee advocates research to improve compliance, assuming effectiveness has been demonstrated. We highlight four additional problems: inappropriateness, cost, lack of sustainability and potential adverse effects.
In conclusion, all UN agencies have joint responsibility to help Member States achieve their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which create the opportunity to link sustainability and dietary diversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity (WHO 2015) illustrates how dietary diversity can help combat global malnutrition by using practical solutions that can be rolled out as public health strategies. Culturally-sensitive, cost-effective, sustainable complementary foods have the potential to increase nutrition security and sovereignty, reduce poverty, hunger and levels of chronic undernutrition while conserving biodiversity and respecting indigenous knowledge.