Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40040346›Full record

Trial reportMaternal & child nutrition2025

Effect of a Behavioral Change Communication Strategy Coupled With Small-Quantity Lipid-Based or Micro-Nutrient Supplements on Stunting and Obesity in Children in Baja Verapaz, Guatemala: Results From a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Carolina Gonzalez Acero, Sebastian Martinez, Ana Perez-Exposito, Solis Winters

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Maternal & child nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Carolina Gonzalez AceroSocial Protection and Health Division, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0006-7835-3107
Sebastian MartinezOffice of Evaluation, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, Washington DC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7651-6674
Ana Perez-ExpositoSocial Protection and Health Division, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0005-2534-2052
Solis WintersSchool of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.

Funding

This study was supported by PepsiCo Foundation (RG-X1192), (RG-X1200), Japan Special Fund Poverty Reduction Program (GU-T1242), and Inter-American Development Bank.
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The co-existence of childhood stunting and obesity is a public health problem in Guatemala and Latin America. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of unsweetened small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) coupled with a behavior change communication (BCC) strategy on the double burden of malnutrition. We conducted a three-arm randomized-control trial with two-stage cluster sampling of households with children under 4.5 months or a mother in the third trimester of pregnancy at baseline from 76 communities in Baja-Verapaz, Guatemala. Some 1268 households were randomly assigned to SQ-LNS or micronutrient powders (MNPs) paired with a multilevel participatory-ludic BCC strategy, or to MNPs only. Measures of mothers' nutrition knowledge and practices were collected at baseline and endline. Children's height, weight, and hemoglobin concentration were measured at endline. Treatment effects were estimated using regression models. The BCC strategy boosted caregiver nutrition knowledge from 4.2 (95% CI: 2.7, 5.7) to 4.6 percentage points (95% CI: 3.1, 6.1). Significant effects on nutrition practices of 3.0 percentage points (95% CI: 1.2, 4.8) were found only for caregivers with children receiving SQ-LNS. We found no detectable treatment effects on stunting or anemia. However, children exposed to SQ-LNS and the BCC strategy were 2.6 percentage points (95% CI: -5.0, -0.2) less likely to be overweight or obese (54.1% lower than the group receiving MNPs only). An intervention coupling a multilevel participatory-ludic BCC strategy with the use of unsweetened SQ-LNS holds promise for the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity, yet complementary interventions are required to address non-nutritional factors related to stunting in Guatemala.

Indexed as

Dietary FatsDietary SupplementsGrowth DisordersMicronutrientsPediatric ObesityAdultChild, PreschoolFemaleGuatemalaHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHumansInfantLipidsMaleMothersPregnancyDietary FatsLipidsMicronutrientsbehavior change communicationchild obesitychild overweightGuatemalaMNPSQ‐LNSstunting

Identifiers

PMID40040346
PMCPMC12150124

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.