Nutributter Supplement

Location: Cap Haitien, Haiti

Collaborators: Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Meds & Food for Kids

Haiti has experienced rapid urbanization that has exacerbated poverty and undernutrition in large slum areas. We aimed to test the efficacy of Nutributter, a daily lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) for increased linear growth in young children.

Healthy, singleton infants aged 6-11 mo (n = 589) were recruited from an urban slum of Cap Haitien and randomly assigned to receive: 1) a control; 2) a 3-mo LNS; or 3) a 6-mo LNS. Infants were followed monthly on growth, morbidity, and developmental outcomes over a 6-mo intervention period and at one additional time point 6 mo post intervention to assess sustained effects. 

Key Findings:

• LNS supplementation for 6 mo significantly increased the length-for-age z score by 0.13 and the weight-for-age z score by 0.12 compared with in the control group after adjustment for child age.
• The effects were sustained 6 mo post intervention.
• A low-energy, fortified product improved the linear growth of young children in this urban setting. 

Sponsors: Alive & Thrive, University of California Davis, The World Bank, The World Food Programme, Inter-American Development Bank

Publications

Linear growth increased among young children in an urban slum of Haiti: a randomized controlled trial of a lipid-based nutrient supplement. Iannotti L, Dulience SJ, Green J, Joseph S, François J, Anténor ML, Lesorogol C, Mounce J, Nickerson NM. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2014

Preventative lipid-based nutrient supplements and young child feeding practices: findings from qualitative research in Haiti. Lesorogol C, Jean-Louis S, Green J, Iannotti L. Maternal & Child Nutrition. 2014