ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT06617130Updated Sep 27, 2024

The Efficacy of Amino Acid Supplementation in Treating Environmental Enteric Dysfunction Among Children At Risk of Malnutrition

An interventional study of Corn soy bean blended flour porridge plus indispensable amino acid in Amino Acid, Stunting, Environmental Enteric Dysfunction, sponsored by Kamuzu University of Health Sciences. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Malawi. Open to participants aged 18 Months to 36 Months, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-09-27.

Sponsored by Kamuzu University of Health Sciences · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Aug 2026, 3 months ago, but the record still lists the study as not yet recruiting.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
66
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Months to 36 Months
Sex
All
01

Study summary

A randomised controlled open label clinical trial to determine whether addition of indispensable amino acids (IAA) to standard complementary food will reduce occurrence of Environmental Enteric Dysfunction (EED) compared with provision of standard complementary food without IAA in healthy Malawian children aged 18-36 months with or without stunting.

02

Conditions studied

  • Amino Acid, Stunting, Environmental Enteric Dysfunction

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03

In context

Growth Disorders

227 studies on the registry are indexed under Growth Disorders; 25 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 66 is below the median of 413 across 143 interventional studies indexed under Growth Disorders.

Browse Growth Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Kamuzu University of Health Sciences is the lead sponsor of 13 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Months to 36 Months
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • All children identified from the Mangochi DSS whose guardian/parent desires screening will be eligible for screening. This will first include age, weight, length, and MUAC assessment. If a participant meets age and anthropometric criteria, they will be invited to undergo full inclusion/exclusion criteria assessment, consent, and randomization.

In order to be eligible to participate in the study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. 18-36 months old (now agreed to by all countries)
  2. Stunted (LAZ\<-2)
  3. Of either sex
  4. Able and willing to undergo testing
  5. Parent, carer, or guardian able and willing to give written,
  6. A positive HIV test result will not be an exclusion criterion.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:

    1. Under 18 months of age
    2. Over 36 months old
    3. Wasted (weight-for-length Z-score less than -2)
    4. Overweight (weight-for-length Z-score greater than 2)
    5. Have had diarrhea (by self-report) in the preceding month
    6. Sibling or twin of another participating study child (2 children of different families in the same household are both eligible)
    7. Have any underlying condition other than , which in the opinion of the investigator would put the subject at undue risk of failing study completion or would interfere with analysis of study results
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
66 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    corn soy bean flour porridge with added indespensable amino acids

    Children in the intervention arm will receive corn-soy blended flour porridge mixed with IAA. The CSB flour will be packed in 1kg packets while the IAA will be packed in small plastic bags. Parent/caretakers will be taught how to prepare complementary porridge and will be provided utensils to estimate amounts of porridge to give to the child. Pre-weighed IAA will be provided so that mothers can mix the IAA to the prepared CSB porridge. The amount of porridge to be given to the child is estimated at 75g cooked porridge or 5 tablespoons of porridge. Likuni porridge is estimated to provide 403kcal per 100g when prepared using a standard recipe (Malawi Food and Nutrient Database). Based on the age range of the participating children we aim to provide an average of 250-302 kcal per child per day.

    Dietary Supplement: Corn soy bean blended flour porridge plus indispensable amino acid

  • Other
    Corn soy bean flour porridge

    Children in the control arm children will receive corn-soy blended flour porridge only. The CSB flour will be packed in 1kg packets. Parent/caretakers will be taught how to prepare complementary porridge and will be provided utensils to estimate amounts of porridge to give to the child. The amount of porridge to be given to the child is estimated at 75g cooked porridge or 5 tablespoons of porridge. Likuni porridge is estimated to provide 403kcal per 100g when prepared using a standard recipe (Malawi Food and Nutrient Database). Based on the age range of the participating children we aim to provide an average of 250-302 kcal per child per day.

    Dietary Supplement: Corn soy bean blended flour porridge plus indispensable amino acid

Interventions

  • Dietary supplementCorn soy bean blended flour porridge plus indispensable amino acid

    Protocol treatment will start within two weeks of enrollment to the study. Following the baseline study assessments, each participant will receive corn-soy bean blended flour porridge supplemented with IAAs (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) dosed at 12g/d and providing 1.5 times the estimated average requirement (EAR) for a healthy child (Intervention group). The porridge will provide 30% daily energy requirement. The study foods will be taken once daily by the child with at least three observed feeding sessions per week over the 4 weeks of the study to assess compliance. Children in the control arm will receive corn-soy blended flour porridge without added amino acids.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. corn soy bean flour porridge with added indespensable amino acids

    Primary Efficacy Endpoint: We hypothesize that adding 12mg IAA to corn-soy blended flour porridge provided to Malawian children aged 18-36 months with or without stunting will reduce gut permeability as measured by the Lactulose:Rhamonse ratio test when provided over 30 days compared to corn-soy blended flour porridge without added IAA.

    Time frame: 30 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Corn soy bean flour porridge

    We hypothesize that adding 12mg IAA to corn-soy blended flour porridge provided to Malawian children aged 18-36 months with or without stunting when provided over 30 days compared to corn-soy blended flour porridge without added IAA will: 1. Increase gut digestive capacity 2. Increase plasma protein absorption 3. Reduce gut bacterial translocation 4. Reduce gut bacterial damage 5. Increase child weight 6. Increase plasma circulating amino acids 7. Increase gut microbial abundance and diversity 8. Increase fat free mass index and fat free percentage

    Time frame: 30 days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
    Blantyre, Malawi
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided — The Principal Investigator will determine authorship on primary and secondary publications of data derived from this trial and published by the PI's research group. De-identified data will be shared with PI approval beginning 6 months after primary trial publication with researchers that provide reasonable statistical analysis plans.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Nov 2024; primary completion for Aug 2026, 21 months later.

Of 77 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Growth Disorders, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 30. This study's planned 21 months is close to that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 78 studies reached it within 23 months; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 30.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 16, 2024
First posted
Sep 27, 2024
StartEst.
Nov 1, 2024
Primary completionEst.
Aug 1, 2026
CompletionEst.
Dec 1, 2026
Last update
Sep 27, 2024
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 27, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06617130
Lead sponsor
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 27, 2024
Start date
Nov 1, 2024 (estimated)
Primary completion
Aug 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 1, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 27, 2024

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jun 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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