PhD defence: Morbidity, iron and anaemia in children with moderate acute malnutrition

Bernardette Cichon

PhD thesis

Moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) is widespread among children in low-income countries, and there is no consensus on which food supplement to use for treatment. Furthermore, studies investigating supplementary foods for moderate acute malnutrition have mainly focussed on anthropometric outcomes and little is known about their impact on iron deficiency, anaemia and morbidity.

In a large randomized trial in Burkina Faso called Treatfood, the effectiveness of key factors in supplemental foods was investigated. Supplementation with lipid-based nutrient supplements led to better iron status and lower levels of anaemia than supplementation with corn-soy blends, but more inflammation. There was no benefit of increasing milk content or replacing dehulled soy with soy isolate.

These findings, together with other results of the wider Treatfood project, indicate that the use of LNS in feeding programms may be preferable. The study was a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, MSF-Dk and ALIMA.

2017, 133 pages.

Time

1 June 2017, 14:00

Place

Aud. A2-82.01 Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg

Opponents 

Associate Professor Camilla Trab Damsgaard (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor David Thurnham, Northern Ireland Centre for Food & Health, University of Ulster, Coleraine, UK.

Professor Magnus Domellöf, Department of Clinical Science, Umeå University, Sweden.

Supervisor

Professor Henrik Friis, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Co-supervisor

Associate Professor Vibeke Brix Christensen, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Juliane Marie Centre, Rigshospitalet, Denmark.