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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Oct;61(7):3423-3435.
doi: 10.1007/s00394-022-02890-3. Epub 2022 May 9.

Daily supplementation of a multiple micronutrient powder improves folate but not thiamine, riboflavin, or vitamin B12 status among young Laotian children: a randomized controlled trial

Guy-Marino Hinnouho  1   2 , Daniela Hampel  3   4 , Setareh Shahab-Ferdows  4 , Maxwell A Barffour  3   5   6 , Liadhan McAnena  7 , Charles D Arnold  3 , K Ryan Wessells  3 , Sengchanh Kounnavong  8 , Lindsay H Allen  3   4 , Helene McNulty  7 , Sonja Y Hess  3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Daily supplementation of a multiple micronutrient powder improves folate but not thiamine, riboflavin, or vitamin B12 status among young Laotian children: a randomized controlled trial

Guy-Marino Hinnouho et al. Eur J Nutr. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the effects of intervention with a daily multiple micronutrient powder (MNP) on thiamine, riboflavin, folate, and B12 status among young Laotian children.

Methods: Children (n = 1704) aged 6-23 mo, participating in a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial were individually randomized to receive daily either MNP (containing 0.5 mg of thiamine, 0.5 mg riboflavin, 150 μg folic acid, and 0.9 μg vitamin B12 along with 11 other micronutrients) or placebo and followed for ~ 36 weeks. In a randomly selected sub-sample of 260 children, erythrocyte thiamine diphosphate (eThDP), plasma folate and B12 concentrations, and erythrocyte glutathione reductase activation coefficient (EGRac; riboflavin biomarker) were assessed at baseline and endline.

Results: There was no treatment effect on endline eThDP concentrations (110.6 ± 8.9 nmol/L in MNP vs. 109.4 ± 8.9 nmol/L in placebo group; p = 0.924), EGRac (1.46 ± 0.3 vs. 1.49 ± 0.3; p = 0.184) and B12 concentrations (523.3 ± 24.6 pmol/L vs. 515.9 ± 24.8 pmol/L; p = 0.678). Likewise, the prevalence of thiamine, riboflavin, and B12 deficiencies did not differ significantly between the two groups. However, endline folate concentration was significantly higher in the MNP compared to the placebo group (28.2 ± 0.8 nmol/L vs 19.9 ± 0.8 nmol/L, respectively; p < 0.001), and correspondingly, the prevalence of folate deficiency was significantly lower in the MNP group (1.6% vs 17.4%; p = 0.015).

Conclusions: Compared to a placebo, daily MNP for 9 months increased only folate but not thiamine, riboflavin, or B12 status in young Laotian children.

Trial registration: The trial was registered at www.

Clinicaltrials: gov (NCT02428647) on April 29 2015.

Keywords: Folate; Lao PDR; MNP; Micronutrient powder; Riboflavin; Thiamine; Vitamin B12; Young children.

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Conflict of interest statement

The sponsors had no involvement in the study implementation, data analyses, and manuscript writing. The spouse of SYH previously worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All other authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Lao Zinc Study flow diagram for B-vitamins samples collection. MNP, Micronutrient powder
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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