SCIENCE TO BEDSIDE

“SAVING BRAINS FROM SEVERE MALNUTRITION”

USING TARGETED NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTATION TO PROTECT BRAINS FROM MALNUTRITION

Severe malnutrition in early life manifesting as severe chronic malnutrition, stunting, or severe acute malnutrition, kwashiorkor/marasmus is associated with later life obesity and cardiometabolic sequelae; of major importance for human capital, severe malnutrition in early life is now also known to be associated with impairment of neurocognition, causing lifetime disadvantage including poor school performance, emotional dysregulation, depression, and overall poor economic performance.

North Suntreso Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana; one site for the trial of nutritional supplementation on brain development and cognition in early life.

Interventions to reverse these neurocognitive deficits, once stunting is canalized, are uniformly unsuccessful. Novel interventions that work to prevent impairment of brain function are needed. We have piloted the intervention trial in mother child dyads in Ghana, of lipid based nutrient supplements given to the mother child dyads in mid pregnancy through delivery, during lactation and thence to the infants out to 18 months. UWI SODECO has been funded by Wellcome Leap to carry out the trial in Bangladesh of brain targeted nutrition administered during recovery from severe childhood malnutrition to improve brain recovery and hence cognition and emotional regulation in the one year old children.

UWI SODECO has established a public-private partnership to raise resources to carry out this trial. The industry partner, Nutrient, is a food company in Normandy, France, which for more than three decades has been the leading manufacturer and supplier of specialized foods used to rehabilitate children and adults with severe malnutrition. More recently grant funds have been sought from Welcome Leap to complete this work.

Siblings playing in a village outside Kintampo, Ghana. Psychosocial stimulation and adequate nutrition are twin determinants of brain development and cognition.

Recruitment of Mother Child pairs in Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh.