Multiple micronutrient supplementation improves growth and reduces the risk of anemia among infants in Gaza Strip, Pales
- PDF / 642,335 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 87 Downloads / 171 Views
RESEARCH
Open Access
Multiple micronutrient supplementation improves growth and reduces the risk of anemia among infants in Gaza Strip, Palestine: a prospective randomized community trial Ali Albelbeisi1* , Zalilah Mohd Shariff1, Chan Yoke Mun1, Hejar Abdul Rahman2 and Yehia Abed3
Abstract Background: Infants and young children 6–24 months of age are the most nutritionally vulnerable groups, as their needs for vitamins and minerals are high relative to the amount of food they consume. This study determines the effect of Micronutrient Powder Supplementation (MNP) on growth and hemoglobin of infants in Gaza Strip, Palestine. Method: This was a two-arm parallel-group randomized controlled trial conducted in two health care clinics of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) at the Middle Area governorate of Gaza Strip, Palestine. A total of 200 healthy infants aged 6-month-old were recruited and randomized to receive 3 sachets/week of MNP for 12 months alongside with the National Micronutrient Supplement (NMS) (n = 100) or NMS alone (n = 100). Weight, length, blood hemoglobin, and dietary intakes were measured at 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 (3 months after the end of intervention) months of age. Analysis was by intention to treat. Results: The experimental group had a higher concentration of hemoglobin at 12 and 15 months than did the control group, and a significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed at 15 months only. Significantly greater weight, length, weight-for-age, length-for-age, and weight-for-length z-scores were observed in the experimental group than that in the control group at 12 and 15 months (p < 0.05). The prevalence of anemia (18% vs. 52%) and stunting (1% vs. 11%) were higher in the control than the experimental group, respectively. After controlling for sex, similar findings were reported. Conclusions: Addition of MNP to the existing NMS program improved the nutritional status of young children. The potential benefits of MNP supplementation on physical growth and hemoglobin should be considered in the existing NMS program. Trial registration: ISRCTN57594793; Date of registration: 20-03-2018 (Retrospectively registered). Keywords: Micronutrient supplementation, Child nutritional status, Physical growth, Hemoglobin, Palestine
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Seri Kembangan, Malaysia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a cred
Data Loading...
