Supplementing Maternal and Infant Diet With High-energy, Micronutrient Fortified Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (LNS)

The use of lipid-based nutrients (LNS), such as Nutributter or fortified spread (FS), have been associated with improved growth and development outcomes among infants in Ghana and Malawi. Modified versions of such supplements have been developed to improve their nutrient density and quality and to lower their costs. Such modified products have proven acceptable to pregnant women in Malawi and Ghana. In the present trial, the investigators aim to test the effect of LNS on pregnancy and child outcomes, when given during pregnant and lactating women and their infants from 6 to 18 months of age. In control groups, participants will receive either iron+folate tables during pregnancy only or multiple micronutrient tablets during pregnancy and first six months of lactations. The main hypothesis to be tested suggests that the mean length-for-age Z-score (LAZ) of 18-month-old infants who received LNS between 6 and 18 months of age and whose mothers were provided with LNS during pregnancy and the first 6 months of lactation is higher than the mean LAZ score of same age infants who received no dietary supplements and whose mothers received iron-folate supplementation during pregnancy only. To detect the long-term effect of the LNS supplementation, we now propose to conduct a follow-up study when the children are 9 years old, to see if the intervention had effect on children's growth, cardiometabolic and respiratory status and neurocognitive development.

Pregnant women will be identified from the antenatal clinics of 4 governmental and 2 other health centres. A total of 1400 women meeting set criteria will be randomised into receiving one of the following interventions: 1) Iron and folic acid supplementation to the mother during pregnancy only (IFA group), 2). Multiple micronutrient supplementation to the mother during pregnancy and six months thereafter (MMN group), 3) Lipid-based nutrient supplements to the mother during pregnancy and six months thereafter and to the child from 6 to 18 months of age (LNS group). The mothers will receive LNS or the multiple micronutrients at 2-weekly intervals at their homes during pregnancy and weekly during first six months of lactation. Children in the LNS group will receive LNS weekly, starting at 6 months. Mothers will be medically examined and tested for defined laboratory parameters at enrolment, at 36 gestation weeks, at birth or soon thereafter, and at 6 months after delivery. Child size will be assessed at birth or soon thereafter and at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months of age. The mothers will undergo a morbidity evaluation fortnightly and the children weekly. 864 mother-infant pairs will undergo the complete intervention and follow-up, as described above. The remaining 536 participants will undergo a simplified intervention and follow-up, in which there are no interventions after birth and the child follow-up consists only of 4 3 health centre and one home visits; first at 1 week, then at six weeks (at home) and at 6 and 18 months of age. A sub-study on the the development of intestinal microbiome was added in August 2011. This entails the collection of stool samples from the mother at 1 month after delivery, breast milk samples from the mothers at 1, 3, and 6 months after delivery and stool and urine samples from the children repeated during the a8 months of intervention. The aim of this subproject is to study the development of the infants' intestinal microbiota, its predictors and its association to child growth and other health outcomes. At the same time point, the sample size was reduced from 2400 to 1400 participants (due to constraints in funding). A one year post-intervention follow-up for participants in the complete follow-up was added to the study protocol in August 2013. The intervention will be stopped when the participants are 18 months old. Thereafter, there will be an anthropometrirc assessment and blood and urine draw at the study clinic at 24 and 30 months of age. Stool samples will be collected from the participants at the age of 21, 24, 27 and 30 months, to study the development of intestinal microbiome. In a follow-up study, when the children are 10 years old, we will assess: 1. child growth using standard anthropometric measures, 2. cardiometabolic health by measuring body composition, blood pressure and plasma lipids, 3. neurodevelopment by measuring neural function, cognitive skills and education attainment using EE and EGMA and Raven's questionnaires, 4. lung function with spirometry and allergy symptoms and asthma using ISAAC questionnaire.