PhD defence: Nutritional supplementation of children with moderate acute malnutrition

Christian Fabiansen

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.

In a large randomized trial in Burkina Faso, the effectiveness of key factors in supplemental foods was investigated. Fat-free tissue accretion was the primary outcome and was greater when treating with lipid-nutrient supplements (LNS) vs corn-soy blends, whereas there were no main effects in soy quality or milk content. In addition, it was established that body length should not be used to define eligibility for treatment.

These findings are likely to have direct impact on policy with a recommendation to use LNS in feeding programs, and a recommendation to remove the body length restrictions from treatment protocols. These changes will benefit millions of children. The study was a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, MSF-Dk and ALIMA.

2017, 121 pages,
ISBN 978  87 93476 96 7.

Time

31 March 2017, kl. 13.00

Venue

Aud. A 2-70 0.3 Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg

Opponents 

Associate Professor Thomas Meinert Larsen (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clinical Lecturer Marko Kerac London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

Professor, Consultant Paediatrician Tsinuel Girma Nigatu Jimma University, Ethiopia.

Supervisor

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

Co-supervisor

Professor Kim F. Michaelsen, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.