2.6. Study Interventions and Follow-Up
diarrhea
Children were assigned to one of four groups: (1) the preventive zinc (PZ) supplementation group, which received a daily preventive zinc dispersible tablet containing 7 mg zinc; (2) the MNP group, which received a daily preventive MNP containing 10 mg zinc, 6 mg iron and 13 other micronutrients; (3) the therapeutic zinc (TZ) supplementation group, which received 20 mg of zinc for 10 days for diarrhea treatment; or (4) the placebo control group, which received a daily placebo preventive powder. To ensure blinding across the 4 intervention groups, the PZ, MNP, and placebo groups received placebo therapeutic tablets for diarrhea and the TZ group received daily preventive placebo tablets [The zinc and placebo tablets were produced by Nutriset SAS (Malaunay, France). The MNP and placebo powder sachets were produced by DSM Fortitech Asia Pacific (Banting, Malaysia). Standard quality control procedures were used by the manufacturers to confirm the nutrient concentrations. The supplements were pre-labeled (by the manufacturer) with different numerical and alphabetical codes. Products were assigned specific colors (one color per intervention group) to ensure correct delivery to children in the respective study groups. In addition, each child, irrespective of the study group, was given low-osmolarity ORS sachets for diarrhea management as part of the diarrhea home treatment kit [