Christine P. Stewart|Bess Caswell|Lora Iannotti|Chessa Lutter|Charles D. Arnold|Raphael Chipatala|Elizabeth L. Prado|Kenneth Maleta
The effect of eggs on early child growth in rural Malawi: the Mazira Project randomized controlled trial
University of California, Davis|University of California, Davis|Washington University in St. Louis|RTI International|University of Maryland, College Park|University of California, Davis|University of Malawi|University of California, Davis|University of Malawi
stunted growth significant public health problem many lowincome countries aim study evaluate impact 1 egg per day child growth rural malawi conducted individually randomized controlled trial 660 children aged 69 mo equally allocated intervention 1 eggd control group eggs provided twiceweekly home visits 6 mo control households visited frequency assessors blinded intervention group measured length weight head circumference midupper arm circumference baseline 6mo followup visit assess adherence multipass 24h dietary recalls administered baseline 3mo 6mo visits february july 2018 660 children randomly assigned intervention n 331 control n 329 groups losses followup totaled 10 intervention group egg consumption increased 39 baseline 845 703 3mo 6mo visits whereas control group remained 8 study visits baseline prevalence stunting 14 underweight 8 wasting 1 differ group intervention effect lengthforage weightforage weightforlength z scores significantly higher head circumference age z score 018 95 ci 001 034 egg group compared control group significant interaction maternal education p 0024 effect lengthforage z score among children whose mothers higher education provision 1 egg per day children rural malawi overall effect linear growth background diet rich animal source foods low prevalence stunting baseline may limited potential impact trial registered clinicaltrialsgov nct03385252