Dietary Diversity of Young Children During CoVID-19 Outbreak: A Longitudinal Study (CoDDYC)

May 17, 2026 updated by: Lucy Lum Chai See, University of Malaya
The 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease. Quarantine measures during a public health pandemic can be particularly detrimental to urban poor families and affect the dietary diversity and food security. This can disproportionately affect young children aged 6 and below, and severely impact those <2 years. Sudden unemployment may result in an unexpected reduction in income that will place pressure on daily budgets for food. Children of families may not have access to foods of adequate diversity that will enable them to meet their macro and micronutrient requirements for growth and development, especially during the Movement Control Order (MCO). The study plans to monitor and evaluate dietary diversity in young children's food intake after the MCO and use the collected information to direct targeted food aid to address observed macro- and micronutrient deficiencies among the urban vulnerable group.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Children are the future to our society. The first thousand days of life, starting from conception till one's second birthday is a critical period of cognitive and physical development. It is the most sensitive period where brain development is most receptive to positive nutrition. Any form of malnutrition, especially during this golden time frame, can lead to irreversible effects to growth, health, education and future career attainment to our potential leaders, which in turn can be a barrier to human development.

The CoVID outbreak is a unique period in recent human history where drastic public health measures such as MCO for an extended period of time has to be implemented nation-wide. These measures have untold severe consequences on the food security of the vulnerable urban group, in particular the young children whose brains require diverse micronutrients to support the rapid growth. These micronutrients can only be obtained from a daily diet that is equally diverse, especially from fresh vegetables and fruits which will be short in supplies. These perishable food items are not usually included in food aids, thus the child may have to subsist on staple-rich diet which are energy-dense but nutrient-poor. These dietary practices are associated with negative health outcomes. Thus by monitoring dietary diversity of the children, we hope to better inform food aid organisations to consider the inclusion of healthier food options to prevent micronutrient deficiencies.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

350

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Malaysia
    • Kuala Lumpur
      • Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 59100
        • University of Malaya Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

6 months to 6 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Study Population

Children who participated in the Children of Urban Poverty Iron Project (CUPIP), PPR Lembah Subang 1, Selangor

Children in PPR Kota Damansara, Selangor

Children who attend the Child Health Clinic, UMMC

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All well-children aged between 6 months and 6 years

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children with chronic illnesses

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Child Health Clinic (CHC)
Control arm - Receives dietary counseling but not given food basket.
Experimental: Community Children
2-weekly food basket consisting of fresh or minimally processed foods in addition to dietary counseling
Other: 2-weekly Food baskets
2 weekly Food basket containing fresh foods or minimally processed foods.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Minimal Dietary Diversity (MDD) of more than 5 food groups in 24 hours
Time Frame: At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Number of food groups in 24 hours
At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Consumption of fruits and vegetables, pre and post-intervention
Time Frame: At study completion, an average of 9 months.
percentage of population consuming fruits and vegetables, pre and post-intervention
At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Consumption of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, pre and post-intervention
Time Frame: At study completion, an average of 9 months.
percentage of population consuming sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, pre and post-intervention
At study completion, an average of 9 months.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Blood hemoglobin in children at the start of study and 4 months later
Time Frame: At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Change in gram/L
At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Serum ferritin in children at the start of study and 4 months later
Time Frame: At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Change in microgram/L
At study completion, an average of 9 months.
Height and Weight z-scores, pre and post-intervention
Time Frame: At study completion, an average of 12 months.
Malnutrition
At study completion, an average of 12 months.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Malaya

Investigators

  • Study Director: Mohammad Y Jalaludin, MBBS MPaeds, University of Malaya Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 6, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 17, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 23, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

June 25, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 17, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020410-8500

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

We will share demographic data of subject and family, baseline anthropometric measurements as well as dietary diversity of children in various locales

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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