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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 May 25;14(11):2191.
doi: 10.3390/nu14112191.

The Efficacy of Fish as an Early Complementary Food on the Linear Growth of Infants Aged 6-7 Months: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Given Chipili  1   2 , Averalda Van Graan  2   3 , Carl J Lombard  4 , Evette Van Niekerk  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The Efficacy of Fish as an Early Complementary Food on the Linear Growth of Infants Aged 6-7 Months: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Given Chipili et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Fish is a good animal-source protein for growth and development. The main objective of the study was to assess the efficacy of fish during the early complementary feeding period on infants' linear growth in the Samfya district of the Luapula Province of Zambia in 6 months randomised controlled trial. The study was conducted from April 2019 to January 2020. Infants aged 6-7 months (N = 238) were assigned to either the intervention (treatment) group or control (placebo) group to receive fish powder or sorghum powder, respectively. Participants were followed on a weekly basis to distribute the powder and record compliance/usage and any morbidities. Anthropometric measurements were taken monthly. A linear mixed-effects model showed that fish powder improved linear growth among infants over all the 6 months of the intervention period. The fish powder increased length-for-age z scores by 1.26 (95% CI: 0.94-1.57) and weight-for-age z score by 0.95 (95% CI 0.6-1.23). The addition of fish powder to the infant's usual food during the early complementary feeding improves the infant's linear growth outcome.

Keywords: Zambia; complementary feeding; fish; growth; infants.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow of the study participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplots of changes in length-for-age z-score (LAZ) over time between the fish powder group and sorghum powder group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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