Nutrition education and complementary feeding interventions prevent stunting and wasting in children aged 6-23 months

Objectives:
World Health Assembly member states have committed to ambitious global targets for reductions in stunting and wasting by 2025. Improving complementary diets of children aged 6-23 months is a recommended approach for reducing stunting in children 5 y old. Less is known about the potential of these interventions to prevent wasting. Therefore, this review article (meta-analysis) has been conducted.

What is the impact of complementary feeding interventions on linear [length-for-age z score (LAZ)] and ponderal [weight-for-length z score (WLZ)] growth of children aged 6-23 months?

Study design:
This review article included studies of the previous LiST review and articles published since January 2012. The studies were longitudinal trials that compared children aged 6-23 months who received 1 of 2 types of complementary feeding interventions (nutrition education or counseling alone or complementary food supplementation with or without nutrition education or counseling) with a no-intervention control.

Results and conclusions:
The investigators found interventions that provided nutrition education or counseling had a small but significant impact on linear growth in food-secure populations [LAZ standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.01-0.22] but not on ponderal growth.

The investigators found complementary food supplementation interventions with or without nutrition education also had a small, significant effect in food-insecure settings on both LAZ [SMD = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.04-0.13] and WLZ [SMD = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.01-0.08].

The investigators concluded nutrition education and complementary feeding interventions both had a small but significant impact on linear growth and complementary feeding interventions also had an impact on ponderal growth of children aged 6-23 months in low- and middle-income countries.

Original title:
Complementary Feeding Interventions Have a Small but Significant Impact on Linear and Ponderal Growth of Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Panjwani A and Heidkamp R.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28904113

Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on food fortification/malnutrition right here.