Introduction
Milk, MP, FM
Globally, 149 million children under 5 years are stunted [Global data show that linear growth faltering starts in utero and that height-for-age z-score (HAZ) declines up to 24 months [To date, nutritional interventions have had only modest effects on linear growth. A meta-analysis of lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) supplementation of young children in low-income settings showed that these improved by only 0.11 HAZ [The minimal effect of small quantity LNS on linear growth could be due to inadequate amounts of not only energy, but also high-quality protein. To our knowledge, no trial seems to have assessed the effect of large quantity LNS with high-quality protein in the prevention of stunting or of any supplement as a treatment for already stunted children. This may be due to concerns that supplementation of stunted children will lead to excessive accretion of fat mass (FM) rather than fat-free mass (FFM) [Milk has long been considered important for linear growth [We aimed to assess the effects of MP and WP provided as part of LNS, as well as the effect of LNS itself, on linear growth and body composition among stunted children from 12 to 59 months of age.