DRIED SKIMMED MILK, BREAST-FEEDING, AND ILLNESS EPISODES

Abstract

In a controlled trial mothers and children attending urban maternal and child health clinics in Khartoum Province were given a fortnightly take-home food supplement of 1 kilogram of dried skimmed milk or an equivalent amount of local beans. There were approximately 300 children aged 6 to 26 months in each group and each child was followed for three to six months. A comparison of the two groups showed: (a) that the dried skimmed milk group mothers were more likely to continue breast-feeding; (b) there was no evidence to associate dried skim milk with an increased incidence of episodes of diarrhea, fever, or vomiting; (c) the utilization of health institutions was very similar in the two groups; and (d) there was no significant difference in the mothers' assessment of the proportion of children with a "poor" appetite in either group. This trial met with considerable methodological problems and the results should therefore be interpreted cautiously. There is a great need for more and better designed trials to assess the possible adverse effects of dried skim milk.