Effect of nutrition education and multi-nutrient biscuit interventions on nutritional and iron status: A cluster randomized control trial on undernourished children aged 6–23 months in Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

Undernutrition and iron deficiencies on under-five children in Indonesia remain high and very closely related to inadequate complementary feeding. This study investigated the effect of weekly nutrition education by home visite using the food monitoring card (FMC) models and daily provision multi-nutrient biscuits and combination on growth and reduction of iron deficiency and anemia among underweight children aged 6–23 mo in Aceh Indonesia. A 6-mo, cluster randomized, control trial was conducted on 121 children received nutrition education (NE), multi-nutrient biscuit (MNB), combination both nutrition education and biscuits (NE+​MNB), and control group. The outcome weight gain and prevalence of underweight (weight for age z-score