The effect of bovine colostrum/egg supplementation compared with corn/soy flour in young Malawian children: a randomized, controlled clinical trial
Tatiana Bierut, Laura Duckworth, Mark Grabowsky, M Isabel Ordiz, Marie L Laury, Meghan Callaghan-Gillespie, Ken Maleta, Mark J Manary, Tatiana Bierut, Laura Duckworth, Mark Grabowsky, M Isabel Ordiz, Marie L Laury, Meghan Callaghan-Gillespie, Ken Maleta, Mark J Manary
Abstract
Background: Bovine colostrum with egg powder (BC/egg) is rich in essential amino acids and immunoactive compounds.
Objectives: This trial tested the hypothesis that a daily supplement of BC/egg would reduce linear growth faltering and environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) in Malawian infants when compared with an isoenergetic ration of corn/soy flour used as a control. EED was defined by a lactulose permeability test.
Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial in which 9-mo-old infants received BC/egg or a control for 3 mo. The primary outcomes were change in length-for-age z-score (ΔLAZ) and urinary lactulose excretion (%L) at 12-mo-old. Secondary outcomes included episodes of diarrhea, stunting, EED, and the 16S configuration of the fecal microbiota.
Results: Of the 277 children enrolled, 267 completed the intervention phase of the study. LAZ decreased in all children from 9 to 17 mo, although ΔLAZ was less in children receiving BC/egg from 9 to 12 mo (difference = 0.12 z-scores; P = 0.0011). This difference persisted after feeding was completed, with less ΔLAZ (difference = 0.09 z-scores). A lower prevalence of stunting was seen in the intervention group (n = 47/137) than the control group (n = 62/127) at 17 mo (RR = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.94).The median %L at 12 mo of age in the children receiving BC/egg was 0.14%, compared with 0.17% in the control group (P = 0.74). In children with %L >0.45% at enrollment (severe EED), the BC/egg group had more children with normal %L at 12 mo of age (10/20, 50%) than was seen in controls (2/15, 13%; P = 0.024). Episodes of diarrhea and β-diversity of the 16S configuration of fecal microbiota did not differ between the 2 groups.
Conclusions: Addition of BC/egg to complementary feeding in Malawian infants resulted in less linear growth faltering. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03801317.
Keywords: amino acids; bovine colostrum; egg; environmental enteric dysfunction; stunting.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition.
Source: PubMed