Community-based Clinical Trial With Microbiota-directed Complementary Foods (MDCFs) Made of Locally Available Food Ingredients for the Management of Children With Primary Moderate Acute Malnutrition

Background (brief): Burden: A total of 52 million children under 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition globally, of whom 33 million have moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). In Bangladesh, more than 2 million children suffer from MAM. According to Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey 2014 26%, 25% and 17% of children aged less than two years are stunted, underweight and wasted respectively. Knowledge gap: It has been already demonstrated that children with SAM have immature gut microbiota that is partially corrected with treatment. Children with MAM have an increased risk of mortality, infections and impaired physical and cognitive development compared to well-nourished children. Although the global caseload of MAM is much greater than that of SAM, the condition has not received the same level of attention or priority. Through our previous and ongoing research we now know about the members of the gut microbiota that can promote growth in children and also about certain food ingredients that promote the proliferation of such beneficial microbiota. However, this knowledge needs to be applied on a sufficiently powered community-based clinical trial. Relevance: The rationale for this study is to assess whether long-term administration of complementary food made of locally available food ingredients can stimulate the proliferation of growth promoting members of the gut microbiota and have a positive impact on child growth. Such a food (the microbiota directed complementary food; MDCF-2) has been identified through our recently concluded Pre-proof of concept trial done on children with primary MAM. We would now like to do a clinical community-based trial of this potential MDCF-2 in the management of children with primary MAM. Hypothesis: Complementary foods made of locally available food ingredients that stimulate the proliferation of growth promoting gut microbiota (MDCF-2) will improve clinical outcomes. Methods: We will conduct a proof of concept (POC) clinical tr