Complementary Feeding: Principles, Practices, and Soybean Nutrition

This course, created by Dr. Astrid Dominguez, Dr. Juan Andrade, Dr. Jeanette Andrade, and Ms. Annette Donnelly of the Soybean Innovation Lab, focuses on infant nutrition and the importance of complementary feeding using soy-based products in enhancing nutrition.
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This course is entitled complementary feeding and focuses on promoting good nutritional practices to support infants in the first two years of life.

This critical period of the first two years of life is marked by rapid growth and development milestones that affect a lifetime of learning and health.

As shown in the figures in the slides, poor nutrition in the first two years of life can have negative consequences throughout the child’s life. The Soybean Innovation Lab, or SIL, is committed to improving lives and livelihoods. We believe food should be Delicious, Inexpensive, Nutritious, Environmentally and Culturally Friendly and of course, Safe.

The acronym for this spells out DINES. For the SIL nutrition team, this means supporting healthy nutritious options, including soybean protein and oil, to enhance and diversify diets. Nutritious, diverse options are particularly important to alleviate wasting and stunting in the first two years of life. We hope you enjoy this course!

Course Lessons

This course was developed by:

Ms. Annette Donnelly

Course developer
Annette M. Donnelly is a visiting research specialist for managed research area five, focused on human nutrition, at the Soybean Innovation Lab at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She holds a BSBA in Management from Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan and an MBA from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California. Annette has worked in both private industry and the NGO sector across the globe. She has worked with vulnerable populations in Sub Saharan Africa and across conflict and post-conflict countries to help people find sustainable pathways out of poverty. She is the co-founder of Walking with Angels, a charitable organization serving volunteer leaders in vulnerable communities. 

Dr. Juan Andrade

Course developer
Juan E. Andrade is an associate professor of global food and nutrition at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. He holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences from Zamorano University, Honduras, and a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from Purdue University. Dr. Andrade's long-term goal is to develop sustainable strategies that can be used to deliver adequate nutrition, especially micronutrients, to residents of low-resource countries and thereby help to promote human health and economic development.  Dr. Andrade is a research affiliate at the USAID’s Livestock Innovation Lab and the PI of the Human Nutrition Team at the USAID’s Soybean Innovation Lab. 

Dr. Astrid Dominguez

Course developer
Astrid Dominguez Uscanga recently finished a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Andrade’s laboratory. She received her BS in Nutrition in Veracruz, Mexico. Dr. Dominguez arrived at the University of Illinois in 2016 as a visiting scholar in the Food Science and Human Nutrition department. In 2017, she completed her PhD in Food Science at the Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico. In 2018, she began her postdoctoral work at Dr. Andrade’s laboratory with a focus on the study of natural bioactive compounds against parasitic infections. Dr. Dominguez  also collaborates with the USAID’s Soybean Innovation Lab.

Dr. Jeanette Andrade

Course developer
Jeanette M. Andrade is an assistant professor of nutritional sciences and master’s in dietetic internship director at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. She holds a B.Sc. in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, a MS in Dietetics from Eastern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in Human Resource Education at University of Florida. Dr. Andrade's long-term goal is to minimize the rapid progression of chronic kidney disease in patients through dietary modifications. Her research interests are focused on reducing inflammation and improving nutritional status of those with kidney disease through modifications of foods and nutrients and nutrition education among both health professionals and patients.  
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