Rice Fortified with Iron in School Meals Improves Cognitive Performance in Cambodian School Children.

Objectives: Nutritional status can have a large impact on schoolperformance in children, with micronutrient deficiencies affecting cognitive performance and school attendance through increased morbidity. The FORISCA-UltraRice+NutriRice Trial in Cambodia tested impact of multimicronutrient fortified rice (MMFR) through the WFP school meal program (SMP) on micronutrient status, health and cognitive performance. Methods: The FORISCA-UltraRice+NutriRice study was a cluster-randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in 9500 schoolchildren. Sixteen schools participating in WFP-SMP were randomly assigned to receive either MMFR including vitamin A (MMFR+VA), MMFR without VA (MMFR-VA) or unfortified rice (placebo) as breakfast distributed 6 days/week for 6 months. Four additional schools not participating in SMP were randomly selected as control group. Cognitive performance (Raven's Colored Matrices, Block Design and Picture completion), and vitamin A and iron status were determined in 25% of the schoolchildren. Results: Cognitive performance was significantly correlated to stunting (P<0.05) and total body iron (TBI) at baseline and endline (P<0.05), but not to vitamin A status. Cognitive performance improved in all children (P<0.001). Children receiving MMFR-VA (iron without vitamin A) had significant higher improvements in Block Design scores as compared to children receiving MMFR+VA (iron plus vitamin A, P<0.001) or control (P=0.022), and tended to be higher than placebo (P=0.09). Conclusions: Iron status, as well as chronic nutritional deprivation (stunting) are both important determinants of cognitive performance in schoolchildren. Improving iron status through fortified SMP can enhance schoolperformance, but interactions with other micronutrients may modify this effect. The optimal dose of micronutrients needs to be established. Funded by USDA/FAS, WFPDSM consortium and IRD.

What is the Right Indicator to Evaluate Impact of Interventions? Examples from a Rice Fortification Trial in Cambodia.

Objectives: Large-scale programs often use proxy indicators for evaluation purposes but little is known on whether use of these indicators might lead to erroneous conclusions regarding impact of programs. In the FORISCA-UltraRice+NutriRice trial in Cambodia, fortified rice was introduced through the WFP schoolmeal program (WFP-SMP). A wide range of impact indicators collected during the study was explored to test the usefulness of 2 proxy indicators (anemia and stunting) for program evaluation. Methods: In a placebo-controlled, double blinded trial, 20 schools (n=9500) were randomly allocated to no SMP (control, 4 schools), normal schoolmeal (placebo, 4 schools) or a schoolmeal with fortified rice (3 different types, 4 schools each). Data on absenteeism and morbidity was available for all schoolchildren, whereas biochemical data (hemoglobin, iron, zinc and vitamin A status), anthropometry, parasite infection and cognitive performance was available for ~25% of children. Results: At baseline, anemia prevalence was significantly lower in non-SMP (9.5% vs 16.6%, P<0.05) and iron status significantly higher in non-SMP schools than in intervention schools (P<0.005). Stunting prevalence was high (41.5%) and not different among the schools. After 6 months of consumption, fortified rice had no overall impact on anemia prevalence or hemoglobin concentrations, but improved micronutrient status and cognitive performance in some intervention groups. Conclusions: Anemia prevalence is a valid indicator to select schools for SMP, but stunting prevalence had little value in this study. Changes in anemia prevalence did not correspond to changes in functional outcomes, showing that program evaluation requires better proxy indicators. Funded by USDA/FAS, WFP-DSM consortium and IRD.

Multi-micronutrient Fortified Rice Improved Vitamin A Status of Cambodian School Children.

Objectives: In rice-consuming countries, multi-micronutrient fortified rice (MMFR) is a promising cost-effective strategy to control micronutrient deficiencies. The FORISCA project evaluated the impact of MMFR distributed through the WFP school meal program (SMP) on micronutrient status, health, and cognition of Cambodian schoolchildren. Here, effects on anemia, iron and vitamin A (VA) status are presented. Methods: The FORISCA-UltraRice+NutriRice study was a cluster-randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in 9500 schoolchildren. Sixteen schools participating in WFP-SMP were randomly assigned to receive either MMFR including VA (MMFR+VA), MMFR without VA (MMFRVA), or unfortified rice (placebo) as breakfast distributed 6 days/week for 6 months. Four additional schools not participating in WFP-SMP were randomly selected as control. Twenty-five percent of schoolchildren from grade 1-6 participated in the biochemical study. Hemoglobin (Hb), iron and VA status were measured at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Results: Baseline prevalence of iron deficiency (ID), anemia and (marginal) vitamin A deficiency (VAD) were 51.6%, 15.7% and 8.6% respectively. Hemoglobinopathy (OR 2.5) , VAD (OR 2.1) and total body iron (TBI) were the strongest predictors of anemia (all p<0.01). The intervention had no overall impact on Hb or anemia prevalence. MMFR+VA significantly reduced VAD from 13.5% to 7.1% (p<0.05), whereas VAD increased in the other groups over the intervention (6.1% to 12.7%). Conclusions: Micronutrient deficiencies were prevalent with especially hemoglobinopathy and VAD and to a lesser extent iron status being risk factors for anemia. Fortified rice containing VA significantly improved VA status of schoolchildren. Funded by USDA/FAS, WFP-DSM consortium and IRD.