Why small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements should be integrated into comprehensive strategies to prevent child undernutrition in nutritionally vulnerable populations: response to Gupta et al.’s commentary

Dewey, Kathryn G.; Stewart, Christine P.; McDonald, Christine M.; Wessells, K. Ryan; Arnold, Charles D.; Prado, Elizabeth L.; Abbeddou, Souheila; Adu-Afarwuah, Seth; Arnold, Benjamin F.; Ashorn, Per; Ashorn, Ulla; Ashraf, Sania; Becquey, Elodie; Black, Robert E.; Brown, Kenneth H.; Christian, Parul; Colford, John M.; Fernald, Lia; Galasso, Emanuela; Hallamaa, Lotta; Hess, Sonja; Humphrey, Jean H.; Huybregts, Lieven; Iannotti, Lora L.; Jannat, Kaniz; Jimenez, Elizabeth Y.; Lartey, Anna; Le Port, Agnès; Leroy, Jef L.; Luby, Stephen P.; Maleta, Kenneth; Matchado, Andrew; Matias, Susana L.; Mbuya, Mduduzi; Mridha, Malay K.; Paul, Rina R.; Okronipa, Harriet; Ouedrago, Jean-Bosco; Pickering, Amy J.; Prendergast, Andrew J.; Ruel, Marie T.; Shaikh, Saijuddin; Weber, Ann M.; Wolff, Patricia

Why small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements should be integrated into comprehensive strategies to prevent child undernutrition in nutritionally vulnerable populations: response to Gupta et al.’s commentary

Autores

Dewey, Kathryn G.

Stewart, Christine P.

McDonald, Christine M.

Editor

World Public Health Nutrition Association

Descripción

We write in response to the commentary by Gupta et al. (2023) on small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) for infants and young children 6 to 24 months of age, which was prompted by the recent brief guidance note from UNICEF (2023) explaining when, why and how SQ-LNS are being prioritized as part of their package of preventive actions to combat early childhood malnutrition. The UNICEF document was disseminated shortly after publication of a correspondence in Nature Food (Aguayo et al. 2023), authored by nutrition leaders from several organizations, that summarized the evidence on the benefits of SQ-LNS and called for this intervention to be scaled up and integrated into programs for populations in which child undernutrition is prevalent and dietary quality is very poor.