Whey Permeate Study

Not Applicable

Completed

Interventions: Dietary Supplement: Whey permeate RUSF
Dietary Supplement: Soy Protein RUSF

Brief Summary: This is a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled clinical effectiveness trial of two supplementary foods in the treatment of MAM.

Specific Aim 1: Test the effectiveness of two supplementary foods, whey RUSF and soy RUSF, in the treatment of MAM in 6-59 month old children in a 12-week home-based supplementary feeding program.

Hypothesis: The proportion of children who recover receiving either soy or whey RUSF will differ by no more than three percent.

Detailed Description: This will be a randomized, double-blinded, controlled clinical effectiveness trial assessing the treatment of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) with one of two supplementary foods for a period of up to 12 weeks. The overall purpose of this research is to see if your child will grow and gain weight more rapidly using one of two peanut butter foods as he/she recovers from protein-energy malnutrition.

Subjects will be given a soy or dairy peanut butter food at their home. The peanut butter food has either small amounts of soya protein and minerals (iron, zinc) or whey powder and minerals added to them. Subjects will have enough food to feed the child for 2 weeks, and asked to return every 2 weeks to be weighed, measured and given more food. The parents of the subjects will be asked to feed their child this food until his/her weight has returned to what is considered normal for the child's height. Subjects will then return after 3, 6 and 12 months for a check-up. At these check-ups, he/she will be measured and examined.

The current standard of care is to allow the child to recover without food or with supplemental flour thus all participation is related to research. Participation in this study is expected to last 8-12 weeks of therapy with follow up in 12 months after completion of the therapy.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Children with MAM defined as mid-upper-arm circumference, MUAC, ≤ 12.5 cm and > 11.5 cm without bipedal edema.

Exclusion Criteria

Children simultaneously involved in another research trial or supplemental feeding program
Children with developmentally delayed
Children with a chronic debilitating illness such as cerebral palsy (not including HIV or TB)
Children with a history of peanut or milk allergy
Children will also be excluded if they had received therapy for acute malnutrition within one month prior to presentation.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Whey permeate RUSF	Whey permeate RUSF	75 kcal/kg/day (314 k Joules (kJ)/kg/day) of whey RUSF. Whey RUSF contains whey permeate, Whey Permeate (WPC) 80 (contains at least 80% protein), peanut paste, sugar, soy oil, a customized micronutrient premix to account for the minerals in whey permeate, and an emulsifier. Whey permeate RUSF will be locally produced and will undergo quality assurance and safety testing for aflatoxin and microbial contamination at the Malawi Bureau of Standards and Eurofins Scientific Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, USA.
Soy Protein RUSF	Soy Protein RUSF	75 kcal/kg/day (314 kJ/kg/day) of whey RUSF. Soy RUSF contains extruded soy flour, peanut paste, sugar, soy oil, palm oil, a premix containing concentrated minerals and vitamins, an emulsifier and dicalcium phosphate or calcium carbonate (Roche, Mumbai, India). Soy RUSF has no protein from animal sources. Soy RUSF will be locally produced and will undergo quality assurance and safety testing for aflatoxin and microbial contamination at the Malawi Bureau of Standards and Eurofins Scientific Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Recovery From Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM)	3 months	The primary outcome measures will be recovery from MAM (achieving MUAC ≥ 12.5 cm by 12 weeks) or failure (death, development of severe acute malnutrition, transfer to hospital for inpatient care, failure to recover from MAM by 12 weeks, default).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Adverse Events	3 months	Any adverse events from the supplementary foods reported in the 3 month time frame.
Mid-Upper-Arm Circumference (MUAC) Gain	3 months	Gain in mid-upper arm circumference
Height	3 months	Amount of height gained over the intervention period.
Weight	3 months	Amount of weight gained over the course of treatment
Time to Graduation	3 months	The amount of time required for a patient to reach recovery