Active clinical trials for "Child Nutrition Disorders"

New approaches are needed to prevent growth failure in children from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). To date, nutrition intervention studies have focused on micronutrient and energy content of complementary foods and have yielded only small to moderate effects on growth and development. There appears to be a missing link that mediates and reduces the expected beneficial effect. Child populations in LMIC show an asymptomatic environmental enteropathy that is characterized by a reduced size of the small intestinal villi, decreased gut integrity and a chronic inflammatory response in the gut. Results from studies in industrialized countries suggest that ω3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 LCPUFAs) improve immune response and gut integrity. These reported beneficial effects could result in even more important physiological implications for children from LMIC and will ultimately contribute to their healthy growth and development. The hypothesis of the OME³Jim study is that an increased intake of ω3 LCPUFAs through complementary foods and human milk has an effect on infant growth and development in a context of high malnutrition rates and low ω3 LCPUFAs intake. This study will identify whether intake by either or both mother and infant is more effective. The specific objectives of the OME³Jim study are: To test the effect of supplementing infants with an ω3 LCPUFAs fortified food supplement on infant growth, morbidity, nutritional status and development; To test the effect of supplementing lactating mothers with an ω3 LCPUFAs oil capsule on infant growth, nutritional status and development; To test the combined effect (dose response) of supplementing ω3 LCPUFAs to lactating mothers and infant on infant growth, morbidity, nutritional status and development: To test the effect of ω3 LCPUFAs supplementation on ω3 LCPUFA status in infants and human milk.

Globally, child undernutrition is the underlying cause for 3.1 million deaths of children younger than 5 years. 18.7 million children under five years of age suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and an additional 33 million children suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, and are at risk of developing SAM In Sub-Saharan Africa, there is often poor integration between programs to treat child acute malnutrition and programs that focus on the prevention of acute and chronic undernutrition - resulting in many missed opportunities for using prevention platforms to screen and refer SAM children, or for using screening and referral platforms to provide prevention services. This project will address two critical gaps related to the integration of preventive and treatment programs: 1) screening and treatment of MAM/SAM have not yet been systematically integrated into routine health-center visits or mainstreamed into community outreach programs; and 2) screening programs often do not offer any preventive services for those children found not to be suffering from MAM/SAM at the time of screening; mothers of children identified as non-MAM/SAM case are usually sent home without receiving any health or nutrition inputs and as a result, may fail to come back for screening because they do not see any tangible benefit associated with their participation in the screening. This project will specifically address these gaps by assessing the effect of an integrated approach consisting of higher screening coverage and preventive Behavior Change Communication (BCC) + Small-Quantity Lipid-based Nutrient supplementation (SQ-LNS) on both prevention and treatment of child undernutrition.

Globally, child undernutrition is the underlying cause for 3.1 million deaths of children younger than 5 years. 18.7 million children under five years of age suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and an additional 33 million children suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, and are at risk of developing SAM In Sub-Saharan Africa, there is often poor integration between programs to treat child acute malnutrition and programs that focus on the prevention of acute and chronic undernutrition - resulting in many missed opportunities for using prevention platforms to screen and refer SAM children, or for using screening and referral platforms to provide prevention services. This project will address two critical gaps related to the integration of preventive and treatment programs: 1) screening and treatment of MAM/SAM have not yet been systematically integrated into routine health-center visits or mainstreamed into community outreach programs; and 2) screening programs do not offer any preventive services for those children found not to be suffering from MAM/SAM at the time of screening; mothers of children identified as non-MAM/SAM case are usually sent home without receiving any health or nutrition inputs and as a result, may fail to come back for screening because they do not see any tangible benefit associated with their participation in the screening. This project will specifically address these gaps by assessing the effect of an integrated approach consisting of higher screening coverage and preventive Behavior Change Communication (BCC) + Small-Quantity Lipid-based Nutrient supplementation (SQ-LNS) on both prevention and treatment of child undernutrition.

The project seeks to test the integration of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Groups within Care Group projects and investigate whether the treatment of maternal depression with Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Groups improves the adoption of nutrition-related behaviors that can reduce stunting in the Kitgum District in northern Uganda. A secondary aim is to examine whether the participation in the care groups will also result in remission of depression as a non-specific therapeutic effect although it may not be intended as an antidepressant treatment.

Zinc deficiency in children is a major problem which leads to compromised immunity and accordingly repeated infections. This study aims to investigate the effect of supplementing zinc to decrease the incidence of diarrhea and respiratory illness in children between 6 months and 5 years in Paediatric Outpatient Clinic in Ain Shams University Hospital.

This study is a randomized controlled trial with a main goal to assess the effects of a locally-prepared food for prevention of malnutrition and stunting, in comparison with standard village practices and also a widely available aid food supplement in 8-12 villages in Guinea-Bissau. The supplement intervention will be for 24-30 weeks. The primary outcome will be cognitive tests of executive function. Secondary outcomes will be changes in standard anthropometric benchmarks of growth, hemoglobin and skin carotenoids in young children living in villages in rural Guinea-Bissau. This is a within-village randomization at the level of the family, and all children will receive a dietary intervention.

A study conducted by IFPRI in Haiti provided the first programmatic evidence, using a cluster randomized evaluation design, that preventing child undernutrition in children under two years of age (PM2A) through an integrated program providing food rations, BCC and preventive health and nutrition services is both feasible and highly effective. The study's principal aim was to compare a newly designed preventive approach with the traditional (recuperative) food assisted MCHN program approach, and therefore included only two comparison groups: one group of communities that was randomly assigned to the preventive approach and another group assigned to the recuperative approach. For logistical and financial reasons, the study did not include a randomized control group receiving no intervention. The Haiti study design was well-suited to achieve its main goal - i.e. to test whether the preventive approach was more effective than the recuperative approach at preventing child undernutrition - but it left a number of questions unanswered. The present study will address several of these questions, which will allow to further refine the PM2A approach, facilitate its replication in different contexts, and maximize its impact and cost-effectiveness in future programming. The study will be conducted in Guatemala and Burundi. The key research objectives are: Impact and cost effectiveness: Assess the impact and cost effectiveness of PM2A on child nutritional status. Optimal composition and size of food rations in PM2A: Assess the differential and absolute impact of varying the size and types of foods incorporated in the food ration of the PM2A. More specifically, assess the differential effect of different sizes of family food rations, and assess the impact of substituting the individual food ration with new micronutrient-rich products such as lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) or micronutrient Sprinkles. Optimal timing and duration of PM2A: Assess the differential and absolute impact of varying the timing and duration of exposure to PM2A on child nutritional status.

Malnutrition is an epidemiologic problem with high prevalence in Mexico. Mexican children present a double burden of malnutrition characterized by the coexistence of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency alongside excess body weight. Malnutrition is caused by inadequate nutrition, including micronutrients deficiencies, in which children living in rural areas and indigenous populations are disproportionately affected. Malnutrition has been associated with an increased risk of metabolic abnormalities like metabolic syndrome (MS), diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Nutrition-specific interventions are strategies that may reduce or avert malnutrition in children. However, limited intervention studies have been implemented in low-income populations, particularly in rural areas. Therefore, studies that include nutrition-specific intervention with enriched foods aimed at reducing micronutrients deficiencies and that can help in prevention or treatment of metabolic conditions in these populations are still needed. Based on the nutritional characterization carried out in school children in Chimalhuacán, Mexico State, a formula in a powder form was designed for children containing vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids that can be used to enrich foods. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of a 4-week intervention with cookies enriched with a micronutrient formula on the nutritional status in Maya schoolchildren aged 8-10 years. Participants (n=84) were their own control, and the investigators measured, at pre- and post-intervention, anthropometric, clinical, biochemical, and cognitive parameters; diet and molecular parameters were assessed only at pre-intervention. Chi-square test, t-Student paired or Wilcoxon, ANCOVA, and logistic regression were performed to analyze the data.

The purpose of this trial is to evaluate the acceptability of the LNS to women and their children aged 12-17 months in comparison to Corn Soy Blend++, and Sprinkles added to borbor (white rice porridge, which is the traditional weaning food in Cambodia). Acceptability will be assessed through a sensory test for caregivers, and by measuring children's consumption.

The South Kivu province of DRC has experience continuous armed conflict over the last several decades; as a result, livelihoods and health metrics are uniformly poor. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine if an integrated set of social enterprises can improve child health while offering viable and scalable new business opportunities for the community. Specific research questions include the impact of the individual enterprises on (1) child health, (2) access to clean water, and (3) economic opportunities in the region.