Refugee Insect Production for Food and Feed: the School Meal Intervention (REFIPRO)

University of Copenhagen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Nutrition, Healthy

Treatments: Other: Insect porridge; Other: Maize Porridge

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06739629

S400- REFIPRO STUDY

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to assess whether edible insect-enriched school porridge has nutrition and health benefits for children aged 6-9 years in refugee communities in Uganda.

The main question the research aims to answer is: Does a daily serving of maize porridge enriched with yellow mealworm flour improve the gut health, growth, and micronutrient status of children in comparison to a standard maize porridge?

Participants will:

Consume a daily serving of yellow mealworm porridge or a maize porridge for one school term (3 months). Data is collected before, during and after the intervention period.

Enrollment: 342 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 9 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Children in Primary 1 in Bukere and Kako primary school
• Age: 6-9 years
• Child can eat insects
• Written informed consent given by parent/caregiver

Exclusion criteria

• Severe acute malnutrition measured as MUAC < 13.5 cm
• Known allergies related to consuming insects
• Disability that impedes eating capacity
• Disability that makes height assessment problematic
• Family plans to move away or deregister child from Kako and Bukere primary schools within the school term.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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342 participants in 2 patient groups

Yellow mealworm-enriched porridge

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive a daily meal of yellow mealworm-enriched porridge, served in schools. The porridge provides 420 Kcal/serving

Treatment:

Other: Insect porridge

Maize porridge

Other group

Description:

Participants receive a standard maize porridge served in schools. This porridge is comparable to the porridge served in the parent-led school feeding program.

Treatment:

Other: Maize Porridge