Preschool based point‐of‐use fortification with micronutrients for six months reduces anaemia with modest effects on growth in rural India (624.22)

Abstract

Objective: To examine the impact of preschool based point‐of‐use micronutrient fortification on children’s anemia, micronutrient status and growth.Methods: 320 pre‐schoolers were enrolled from 22 ICDS centres from rural Andhra Pradesh, India into a double masked, randomized 6‐month trial to receive either multiple micronutrient powder (MNP) or placebo powder, mixed into the lunch meal. Baseline and end line measures included hemoglobin (Hb), ferritin, sTfR, CRP, height and weight. Mixed effects models were used for mean comparison of groups and growth analysis adjusted for baseline and clustering effect.Results: Children in MNP showed significant (p<0.001) improvements in mean Hb from 10.9 to 12.1g/dL and ferritin 20.3to 25.1µg/L respectively compared to placebo, 10.9 to 11.21 for Hb and 16.6 to 14.6mg/L for ferritin. Mean sTfR decreased significantly in MNP group (0.98) compared to placebo (0.11). Height increased from 89.6 to 94.4 cm in MNP compared to placebo from 88.5 to 93.5cm.The height increment was significantly higher in MNP ( 5.1 vs 4.7 cm, p<0.05) . Significant difference in height increments (0.6 to 0.9 cm) was observed in MNP children with anemia/ID/IDA compared to placebo.Conclusions: Point‐of‐use fortification with MNP reduced IDA /anemia and showed height improvement amongst preschoolers.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01660958Grant Funding Source: Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition and the Micronutrient Initiative