Child Health, Agriculture and Integrated Nutrition (CHAIN): protocol for a randomised controlled trial of improved infant and young child feeding in rural Zimbabwe.

Introduction: Over one-quarter of children in sub-Saharan Africa are stunted; however, commercial supplements only partially meet child nutrient requirements, cannot be sustainably produced, and do not resolve physiological barriers to adequate nutrition (eg, inflammation, microbiome dysbiosis and metabolic dysfunction). Redesigning current infant and young child feeding (IYCF) interventions using locally available foods to improve intake, uptake and utilisation of nutrients could ameliorate underlying pathogenic pathways and improve infant growth during the critical period of complementary feeding, to reduce the global burden of stunting.

Methods And Analysis: Child Health Agriculture Integrated Nutrition is an open-label, individual household randomised trial comparing the effects of IYCF versus 'IYCF-plus' on nutrient intake during infancy.