Effects of food supplementation on cognitive function, cerebral blood flow, and nutritional status in young children at risk of undernutrition: randomized controlled trial

Study answer

What this study found

NEWSUP improved working memory and cerebral blood flow in children younger than 4 years, but not in older children. In children under 4, NEWSUP versus control increased working memory in the fully adjusted model, rate ratio 1.20 (1.02 to 1.41), P=0.03, and in per-protocol analysis 1.25 (1.06 to 1.47); no significant effect was seen versus control in children aged 4 or older. Intention-to-treat analyses also showed higher cerebral blood flow and oxygen metabolism indices, including CBFi 1.14 mm2/s×10-8 (0.10 to 2.23) and CMRO2i 4.54 AU (0.64 to 8.44), with larger regional changes in the left…

Study & population

Randomized controlled trial in 10 rural villages in the Oio and Cacheu regions of Guinea-Bissau, using village-based clusters and two enrollment cohorts about five months apart.

Intervention

NEWSUP was an oral multicomponent food supplement given as a breakfast serving five mornings per week for about 23 weeks.

Key limitation

Benefits were age dependent, with no significant working memory effect in children aged 4 or older.

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Original abstract