Crossover trial to test the acceptability of a locally produced lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) for children under 2 years in Cambodia: a study protocol

Abstract

IntroductionThe acceptability and efficacy of existing ready-to-use supplementary and therapeutic foods has been low in Cambodia, thus limiting success in preventing and treating malnutrition among Cambodian children. In that context, UNICEF and IRD have developed a locally produced, multiple micronutrient fortified lipid-based nutrient supplement. This food is innovative, in that it uses fish instead of milk as the animal source food. Very few supplementary foods have non-milk animal source foods, and in addition they have not been widely tested. This trial will assess the novel food’s acceptability to children and caregivers.Methods and analysisThis is a cluster-randomised, incomplete block, 4×4 crossover design with no blinding. It will take place in four sites in a community setting in periurban Phnom Penh. Healthy children aged 9–23 months (n=100) will eat each of four foods for 3 days at a time. The amount they consume will be measured, and at the end of each 3-day set, caregivers will assess how well their child liked the food. After 12 days, caregivers themselves will do a sensory test of the 4 foods and will rank them in terms of preference.Ethics and disseminationEthical clearance was received from the University of Queensland Medical Research Ethics Committee (2014001070) and from Cambodia’s National Ethics Committee for Health Research (03/8 NECHR).RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: LNS-CAMB-INFANTS; NCT02257437. Pre-results.

Development and testing of locally-produced ready-to-use therapeutic and supplementary foods (RUTFs and RUSFs) in Cambodia: lessons learned

“…Therefore, the research team felt confident to proceed to a six-month trial to test the RUSF’s effectiveness. Details on the children’s acceptability trial are described elsewhere [41, 42].…”

Effectiveness of a locally produced ready‐to‐use supplementary food in preventing growth faltering for children under 2 years in Cambodia: a cluster randomised controlled trial

“…The design and methods are detailed in the published protocol (Borg et al, ) and briefly described here. The trial took place from February to October 2016.…”

“…All processing was conducted in certified facilities, and microbiological safety testing was conducted regularly. The ingredients of the RUSF and the comparators are detailed in Tables A1 and A2, and in the acceptability and effectiveness protocols (Borg et al, ; Borg et al, ). The RUSF was provided as a medium quantity supplementary food, that is, providing 50‐100% of the child's daily energy requirements (i.e.…”

Quality Characteristics and Functional and Antioxidant Capacities of Algae-Fortified Fish Burgers Prepared from Common Barbel (Barbus barbus)

“…Experiments were performed in a sensory evaluation room equipped with white light and controlled ventilation and water was served for perfectly cleaning the mouth between samples. Members of the sensory panel evaluated the fish burgers for taste, appearance, texture, color and odor based on a traditional 5 point-hedonic scale ranging from 1 (extremely disliked) to 5 (extremely liked) (1 = very bad, 2 = bad, 3 = neither bad nor good, 4 = good and 5 = very good) for each parameter [29]. A score of 4 was considered the threshold for acceptance of the fish burger.…”