The Impact of Dietary Protein in Complementary Foods on Infant Growth and Body Composition in a Population Facing the Double Burden of Malnutrition: Protocol for a Multicenter, Prospective Cohort Study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Protein is an essential macronutrient with an important role during complementary feeding. Low protein intake contributes to undernutrition while high intake, especially from animal sources, may increase obesity risk. However, the influences of different protein sources (dairy, meat, and plants) on growth, and underlying mechanisms for these effects, are poorly understood. Animal-sourced foods provide both high-quality protein and iron and are recommended to improve iron status. However, it is unclear whether current dietary recommendations are adequate to support healthy growth and optimize iron status. These issues are of particular concern in countries facing the double burden of malnutrition, the coexistence of all forms of malnutrition. More evidence is needed to develop appropriate recommendations for these countries. OBJECTIVE: This study will investigate associations between protein intake during complementary feeding and growth, body composition, and iron status of infants in Thailand, a country facing the double burden of malnutrition. The study will also explore how different protein sources influence growth via the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) axis and plasma amino acids. METHODS: A multicenter cohort study will be conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 150 healthy term infants aged 4-6 months with birth weight ≥2500 g. Demographic data, dietary intake, and anthropometry will be collected at 6, 9, and 12 months. Dietary intake will be assessed using 24-hour dietary recalls, 3-day food records, and food frequency questionnaires. Blood samples for iron status, growth hormone, IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein III (IGFBP-3), and plasma amino acids and urine samples for body composition analysis using stable isotope dilution will be obtained at 12 months. RESULTS: The recruitment of study participants and data collection was undertaken from June 2018 to May 2019. Data and laboratory analyses are ongoing and are expected to be completed by December 2020. A total of 150 participants were enrolled, and 146 completed the study. We hypothesized that protein intake from animal-sourced foods in recommended quantities could support normal weight and length gain and lower the risk of undernutrition associated with similar amounts of plant-based protein. However, higher protein intake, especially from milk protein, may be linked to increased body fat via plasma amino acids and the growth hormone-IGF axis. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study will provide data on current complementary feeding practices, focusing on protein and iron intake in Thai infants. This information, combined with data on associations with infant growth and iron status, will help inform complementary feeding recommendations for this population and may be found relevant to other settings experiencing the double burden of malnutrition. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/18112.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.013 | 0.008 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.012 | 0.003 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".