Dried Skimmed Milk, Breast-Feeding and Illness Episodes- a Controlled Trial in Young Children in Khartoum Province, Sudan

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Abstract
Zumrawi F [Department of Home Science, University of Khartoum, Democratic Republic of Sudan], Vaughan JP, Waterlow JC and Kirkwood BR. Dried skimmed milk, breast-feeding and illness episodes — a controlled trial in young children in Khartoum Province, Sudan. International Journal of Epidemiology 1981, 10: 303–308. In a controlled trial mothers and children attending urban maternal and child health (MCH) clinics in Khartoum Province were given a fortnightly take home food supplement of 1 Kilogram of dried skimmed milk (DSM) or an equivalent amount of local beans. There were approximately 300 children aged 6–26 months in each group and each child was followed for 3 to 6 months. A comparison of the two groups showed: a) that the DSM group mothers were more likely to continue breastfeeding; b) there was no evidence to associate DSM with an increased incidence of episodes of diarrhoea, fever or vomiting; c) the utilisation 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 DSM.

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