Veronika Scherbaum, Ratna Chrismiari Purwestri, Wolfgang Stuetz, Dyah Ayu Inayati, Julia Suryantan, Maurice Alexander Bloem, Hans Konrad Biesalski
Background: Treatment effects of fortified ready-to-use foods for moderately to mildly wasted children are largely unknown. Methods: Two nutritionally comparable forms of locally produced ready-to-use foods for daily feeding programmes of moderately to mildly wasted children (weight-for-height Z-score/WHZ≥-3 to <-1.5SD) were assessed on Nias, Indonesia. The frequencies of reaching target WHZ≥-1.5SD, compliance to the ready-touse food programme, and weight gain until recovery or programme closure among children treated with peanut/milk-based spreads (n=29) were compared among children receiving cereal/nut/legume-based biscuits (n=44) and a second group treated with cereal/nut/legume-based biscuits whose mothers received intensive nutrition education (n=38). Results: Children in the cereal/nut/legume-based biscuits groups were younger (31 and 33 vs 39 months, p=0.004) and more likely to be moderately wasted (45 and 39 vs 21% with WHZ<-2, p=0.114) at admission, but had a higher rate in recovery (84 and 79 vs 62%, p=0.086) and showed more frequently a high compliance (>80%) to the ready-to-use (86 and 84 vs 45%, p<0.001) than those children in the peanut/milk-based spreads programme. Multivariable logistic regression revealed high compliance followed by weight gain and a lower degree of wasting at admission as independent and significant predictors of reaching target WHZ≥-1.5SD (all p<0.01). Weight gain was positively associated with the consumption of the biscuits (vs peanut//milk-based spreads: r=0.188, p=0.051) and was highest in the cereal/nut/legume-based biscuits plus intensive education compared with the cereal/nut/legume-based biscuits and peanut/milk-based spreads groups. Conclusions: Locally produced ready-to-use foods as biscuits or spreads were similarly effective for rehabilitation of moderately to mildly wasted children.
Institute for Social Sciences in Agriculture, Department of Gender and Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Institute for Biological Chemistry and Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Faculty of Medicine, Nutrition Department, University of Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia; Institute of Nutrition, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Jena, Germany; Church World Service Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; Church World Service, New York, United States
