Clinical studies proven impact of oral nutrition supplement on children healthy growth

Early childhood is a critical stage of development that forms the foundation for children’s future well-being and learning. During this stage of life, nutrition is fundamental for good health and development. Nutrition can have a profound effect on children’s health status as well as their ability to learn, think analytically and socialize with others, and their capacity to adapt to change.

Nutritional deficiencies can lead to disease and impede a child’s growth. It can increase the risk of infection, decrease immunity and hinder a child’s ability to recover from illness.

Currently 24.6% of Vietnamese children less than five years old are stunted and the government targets to reduce the rate to 23% by 2020. With the objectives of bringing together international and local paediatric nutrition experts to update nutritional treatment and solutions to help Vietnamese healthcare professionals to take better care of children as well as sharing clinical evidences of benefits of nutritional intervention for catching up growth and sustainable growth in children, a symposium named “The role of healthcare professional in nutrition care for children in hospital and in community” was hosted in Hanoi on April 14, 2018 by the Vietnam Paediatric Association in cooperation with the global healthcare company Abbott.

At the symposium, international and local experts shared clinical evidences of benefits of nutritional supplement for catching up growth and sustainable growth in children and considered how these findings benefit Vietnamese children. A number of international clinical studies have proven the impacts of long-term use of oral nutrition supplement on nutritional status, growth in weight and height, health outcomes including improvement of immunity and appetite of children.

Experts shared that a healthy balanced diet that provides enough essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that can help kids catch up and sustain growth. To those who are at risk of undernourishment, nutrition intervention with oral nutrition supplement can provide energy and nutrients to support growth and development and can address the causes of micronutrients deficiency in daily diet; improve nutritional status and growth of children.

The significant clinically proven benefits of oral nutritional supplements include growth in height and weight, improvement of immunity and appetite. Specifically, researchers found that the children at risk of malnutrition or picky eaters receiving ONS daily and dietary counselling successfully improved nutritional adequacy and have better appetite after 4 weeks of the intervention; increased in weight after 8 weeks; increased in height after 12 weeks; reduced number of sick days after 16 weeks; and after 48-week, intervention consisting of initial dietary counselling and continued ONS helped sustain normal growth after a catch-up growth in nutritionally at-risk children. Moreover, a combination of initial dietary counselling and ONS was associated with an increased consumption of a greater variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, and protein-rich items.

These are the findings of clinical studies named “Longitudinal growth and health outcomes in nutritionally at risk children who received long-term nutritional intervention” and “Effect of Oral Supplementation on Catch-Up Growth in Picky Eaters”.

Dr. Ninh Thi Nhung

Benefits of oral nutritional supplements intervention on Vietnamese children also have been proven. The clinical study named “Oral nutritional supplementation improved physical growth & micronutrient deficiencies in stunted children” which has been presented in the 5th International Conference on Nutrition and Growth (N&G 2018) taken place March 1-3, 2018 was conducted by Dr. Ninh Thi Nhung from Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy. The study was designed to assess the effects of oral nutritional supplement on stunting status of children from 24 to 48 months; Anemia, albumin and zinc deficiencies, digestive and respiratory tract infections of children from 24 to 48 months. After 6 months of intervention, researchers found that the average increase in weight in studied children is 1.8 kg & in height is 4.8 cm; reduction on Anemia, Albumin & Zinc deficiency after intervention.

Considering the clinically proven benefits of ONS on healthy growth of children, healthcare professionals can take a better care for children in hospital as well. Other evidences shared at the symposium show that ONS use in hospitalized paediatric patients improves hospital outcomes as well as may provide a cost-effective approach to improving hospital care.

As a leading science-based global healthcare company, Abbott has been actively working with the Vietnam Paediatric Association, as well as other government organizations, to address nutrition and health issues for Vietnamese children, in order to promote long-term healthy growth and ensure the next healthier generations.

PhD Francisco Rosales

PhD Francisco Rosales, Medical Director, Scientific and Medical Affairs, Abbott Nutrition: “Clinical evidences show that long-term use of oral nutrition supplement like PediaSure, helps improve overall nutrition status, fills nutritional gaps in children at risk of undernourishment or pediatric patients. The children in the studies who used PediaSure successfully catching up growth in weight and height. The children also had improvements in their appetite and physical activity levels, according to parents, and a reduction in their number of sick days. And long-term use of PediaSure does not lead to excessive weight gain and has no negative impact on the consumption of regular family foods.”