| dc.description.abstract | Objective: To assess the effect of daily egg consumption for six months on linear
growth (primary outcome), weight-for-age, weight-for-length, mid-upper arm
circumference-for-age, head circumference-for-age Z-scores, gross motor
milestones development, anaemia and iron status (secondary outcomes) in a
low socioeconomic community.
Participants: Infants aged 6 to 9 months living in the peri-urban Jouberton area, in
the Matlosana Municipality, South Africa.
Design: A randomised controlled trial with a parallel design was implemented.
Eligible infants were randomly allocated to the intervention (n 250) receiving one
egg/day and the control group (n 250) receiving no intervention. The participants
were visited weekly to monitor morbidity and gross motor development, with
information on adherence collected for the intervention group. Trained assessors
took anthropometric measurements, and a blood sample was collected to assess
anaemia and iron status. There was blinding of the anthropometric assessors to the
groups during measurements and the statistician during the analysis.
Results: Baseline prevalence of stunting, underweight, wasting, overweight and
anaemia was 23·8 %, 9·8 %, 1·2 %, 13·8 % and 29·2 %, respectively, and did not
differ between groups. Overall, 230 and 216 participants in the intervention and
control groups completed the study, respectively. There was no intervention
effect on length-for-age, weight-for-age, weight-for-length Z-scores, gross motor
milestone development, anaemia and iron status.
Conclusions: Daily egg intake did not affect linear growth, underweight, wasting,
motor milestones development, anaemia and iron status. Other interventions are
necessary to understand the effect of animal-source food intake on children’s
growth and development. This trial was registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/
(NCT05168085). | en_US |
