Common beans and cowpeas as complementary foods to reduce environmental enteric dysfunction and stunting in Malawian children: study protocol for two randomized controlled trials.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Interventions to decrease the burden of childhood malnutrition are urgently needed, as millions of children die annually owing to undernutrition and hundreds of millions more are left cognitively and physically stunted. Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), a pervasive chronic subclinical inflammatory condition among children that develops when complementary foods are introduced, places them at high risk of stunting, malabsorption, and poor oral vaccine efficacy. Improved interventions to reduce the burden of EED and stunting are expected to markedly improve the nutritional status and survival of children throughout resource-limited settings.

Methods/design

We will conduct, in parallel, two prospective randomized controlled clinical trials to determine whether

SUBMITTER: Trehan I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4650393 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature