Comparing Milk Fortified Corn-Soy Blend, Soy Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF), and Soy/Whey RUSF in the Treatment of Moderate Acute Malnutrition

publication coverIn response to a need for an alternative, effective, and affordable supplementary food for children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), the World Food Programme developed a new corn-soy blend (CSB) recipe fortified with oil and dry skim milk called CSB++. In a study carried out in Malawi by FANTA partner Washington University in St. Louis, a locally produced CSB++ was compared with both a locally produced soy ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF) and an imported soy/whey RUSF for a group of children 6–59 months with MAM. The study found that although children who received CSB++ required 2 days longer to recover and gained slightly less weight than the children receiving the RUSF did, the recovery rate for the tested CSB++ was similar to that of the soy RUSF and the soy/whey RUSF. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Nutrition.

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