Effect of a fortified maize-meal porridge on anemia, micronutrient status, and motor development of infants.

Background: Maize-meal porridge is used for infant feeding in many African countries, including South Africa. A low-cost, finely milled, maize-meal porridge was fortified with beta-carotene, iron, and zinc (100% of recommended dietary allowance), as well as ascorbic acid, copper, selenium, riboflavin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and vitamin E.

Objective: We assessed whether the fortified porridge could reduce anemia and improve the micronutrient status and motor development of infants.

Design: Infants aged 6-12 mo (n = 361) were randomly assigned to receive either the fortified or unfortified porridge for 6 mo. Primary outcomes were hemoglobin and serum retinol, zinc, and ferritin concentrations and motor development. Growth was assessed as a secondary outcome. Primary and secondary outcomes were assessed at baseline and 6 mo.

Results: Two hundred ninety-two infants completed the study. The fortified-porridge group had an intervention effect of 9.4 microg/L (95% CI: 3.6, 15.1 microg/L) for serum ferritin and 9 g/L (95% CI: 6, 12 g/L) for hemoglobin concentrations. The proportion of infants with anemia decreased from 45% to 17% in the fortified-porridge group, whereas it remained >40% in the control group. The fortified-porridge group achieved on average 15.5 of the 25 motor development score items, whereas the control group achieved 14.4 items (P = 0.007). Serum retinol concentration showed an inconsistent effect, and no intervention effect was observed for serum zinc concentrations.

Conclusions: This low-cost fortified porridge can potentially have a significant effect in reducing anemia and improving iron status and motor development of infants in poor settings. The formulation needs some adjustment in terms of zinc fortification.