TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of yogurt supplementation and nutritional education on malnourished infants : a pilot RCT in Dhaka's slums
AU - Jannat, Kaniz
AU - Agho, Kingsley Emwinyore
AU - Parvez, Sarker Masud
AU - Rahman, Mahbubur
AU - Thomson, Russell
AU - Amin, Mohammed Badrul
AU - Merom, Dafna
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Our objective was to quantify the effects of yogurt supplementation and nutrition education over three months on the linear growth of infants at risk of stunting. We conducted a three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial: (1) nutrition education for mothers; (2) nutrition education plus a daily yogurt supplement (50 g) for the index child; and (3) usual care (control). Dyads of children aged 4–6 months and at risk of stunting [length-for-age z-score (LAZ) ≤ −1 SD and >−2 SD] and their mothers with ≤10 years of education were eligible for the study. Participants were recruited from five slum areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Intention-to-treat (N = 162) and complete-case analyses (N = 127) showed no between-group statistically significant differences in LAZ or weight-for-age (WAZ). However, the yogurt group showed greater change in linear growth compared to the control (LAZ: mean difference 0.20, 95% CI: −0.06, 0.47, p-value 0.13), which was also slightly greater than the education-only group. Children in the yogurt plus group were five times (95% CI: 0.80, 31.80, p-value 0.09) more likely to meet the minimum dietary diversity (MDD) score compared to the control. A 3-month follow-up of this pilot study did not demonstrate that yogurt was beneficial to linear growth. However, there were encouraging trends that merit replication of the intervention with larger samples and longer follow-ups.
AB - Our objective was to quantify the effects of yogurt supplementation and nutrition education over three months on the linear growth of infants at risk of stunting. We conducted a three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial: (1) nutrition education for mothers; (2) nutrition education plus a daily yogurt supplement (50 g) for the index child; and (3) usual care (control). Dyads of children aged 4–6 months and at risk of stunting [length-for-age z-score (LAZ) ≤ −1 SD and >−2 SD] and their mothers with ≤10 years of education were eligible for the study. Participants were recruited from five slum areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Intention-to-treat (N = 162) and complete-case analyses (N = 127) showed no between-group statistically significant differences in LAZ or weight-for-age (WAZ). However, the yogurt group showed greater change in linear growth compared to the control (LAZ: mean difference 0.20, 95% CI: −0.06, 0.47, p-value 0.13), which was also slightly greater than the education-only group. Children in the yogurt plus group were five times (95% CI: 0.80, 31.80, p-value 0.09) more likely to meet the minimum dietary diversity (MDD) score compared to the control. A 3-month follow-up of this pilot study did not demonstrate that yogurt was beneficial to linear growth. However, there were encouraging trends that merit replication of the intervention with larger samples and longer follow-ups.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:70840
M3 - Article
SN - 2072-6643
VL - 15
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
IS - 13
M1 - 2986
ER -
