Energy dense food supplements can benefit malnourished children in some ways but they may not prevent acute malnutrition, researchers have warned.
A range of nutritional supplements is now available, with claims to prevent wasting in populations at risk of periodic food shortages, say researchers led by Dr Lieven Huybregts of Ghent University in Belgium.
The supplements are of great interest to organisations working to avoid child malnutrition in developing countries. But "evidence is lacking as to the effectiveness of such preventive interventions", say the researchers in the journal PLOS Medicine.
They looked at the benefits of giving a ready-to-use supplementary food called RUSF to children aged six to 36 months, as part of a distribution programme of staple foods. Half of a group of 1,038 children in the city of Abeche, Chad, were given 46g RUSF per day for four months and half were not.
RUSF did not significantly protect against wasting, although it slightly increased height-for-age and blood haemoglobin levels, cutting the risk of anaemia. It also helped prevent diarrhoea.
The researchers write: "We could not find clear evidence that adding RUSF to a household food ration distribution of staple foods was more effective in preventing acute malnutrition. Other context-specific alternatives for preventing acute malnutrition should therefore be investigated."
Commenting on the study, Dr Kathryn Dewey and Dr Mary Arimond of the University of California, USA, state: "There is clearly a need for additional research to understand the potential growth-promoting effect of certain ingredients in Lipid-based Nutritional supplements (e.g., milk powder, essential fatty acids). The new study is an important contribution to the evidence base."
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