Increased vs. Standard Dose of Iron in Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods for the Treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition in a Community Setting: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT: The optimal dose of iron in ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) used to treat uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in community settings is not well established. The objective of this systematic review was to assess if an increased iron dose in RUTF, compared with the standard iron dose in the World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended peanut-based RUTF, improved outcomes in children aged six months or older. We searched multiple electronic databases and only included randomized controlled trials. We pooled the data in a meta-analysis to obtain relative risk (RR) and reported it with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Three studies, one each from Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Malawi, were included. In all studies, the RUTF used in the intervention group was milk-fr

SUBMITTER: Imdad A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9370784 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature