Impact of solid and liquid supplements on weight gain and appetite of children between 5 to 10 years

Comparison of the effectiveness of solid ready-to-eat and a liquid ready-to-drink supplements for management of mild to moderate malnutrition in children from Pakistan: a randomized trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN51555749

Enrollment

Registered

2014-03-12

Start date

2014-03-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2019-10-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Mild and Moderate Malnutrition Nutritional, Metabolic, Endocrine Malnutrition

Interventions

The participants are receiving either solid ready to use food (RTUF) (Plumpy? Nut

Nutriset, Malaunay, France), or liquid ready to use supplement (LRUS) (Fortini, Strawberry, Nutricia). The total duration of the intervention is 4 weeks. A solid ready

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Primary school children, aged between 5-10 years. 2. Mild to moderate malnutrition (Z-score between -2 and -1) 3. Healthy children 4. Not on any medication or on any nutritional supplements 5. Not following special diet

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. History of eating disorder 2. History of gastrointestinal problems or surgery 3. History of food allergy 4. History of chronic illness 5. On any medication 6. Currently taking part in other research

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
1. Weight measurement - The weight of the children will be measured wearing lightweight clothes without shoes with a calibrated electronic scale (Seca, Hamburg, Germany). 2. Height measurement - Height will be measured with a portable stadiometer (Seca, Leicester, UK) using a stretch stature method. 3. Mid upper arm circumference - Mid upper arm circumference will be measured with a flexible measuring tape on the left upper arm. 4. Skin fold measurement - Triceps, biceps and subscapular skin folds will be measured using Holtain skin fold calliper (Holtain LTD, Crosswell, UK) to the nearest 0.2 mm. 5. Appetite measures - Appetite sensations will be measured with validated appetite questionnaires (Flint et al., 2000). All the primary outcomes will be measured before the supplementation (baseline), two weeks after initiation of the supplementation and at the end of the supplementation.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Weight measurement - The weight of the children will be measured wearing lightweight clothes without shoes with a calibrated electronic scale (Seca, Hamburg, Germany). 2. Height measurement - Height will be measured with a portable stadiometer (Seca, Leicester, UK) using a stretch stature method. 3. Mid upper arm circumference - Mid upper arm circumference will be measured with a flexible measuring tape on the left upper arm. 4. Skin fold measurement - Triceps, biceps and subscapular skin folds will be measured using Holtain skin fold calliper (Holtain LTD, Crosswell, UK) to the nearest 0.2 mm. 5. Appetite measures - Appetite sensations will be measured with validated appetite questionnaires (Flint et al., 2000). All the primary outcomes will be measured before the supplementation (baseline), two weeks after initiation of the supplementation and at the end of the supplementation.

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Taste acceptability of supplements 2. Perceived benefits of the supplements by parents/carers 3. Perceived side effects of the supplements by parents/carers The secondary outcomes will be measured only before the supplementation (baseline) and at the end of supplementation.	—

Countries

Pakistan

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Mar 10, 2026