3. Results
weight gain, Weight gain
A total of 6145 children were pre-screened and 2379 were identified as being at risk of SAM. Of these, 560 children had SAM; a quarter did not meet the study criteria (Among the 302 (74.6%) enrolled children, 253 (83.8%) had WHZ scores < −3, 18 (6.0%) had MUAC < 11.5 cm, and 31 (10.3%) met both inclusion criteria (Overall drop-out rate during the intervention was high at 29.1% (There was no preference among the caregivers for the taste of the products (The amount of RUTF consumed during the appetite test (20.0 ± 14.9 g) and the velocity of RUTF consumption (0.75 g/min) were not different among the 5 intervention groups (Mothers were encouraged to continue breastfeeding their children during the intervention. Only 7% of the children consumed other foods less than once per day during the 8-week intervention, while the rest of the children consumed other foods 1–3 times per day, despite not finishing their daily dose of RUTF.The mean weight gain, expressed as g/kg BW/day, ranged from 1.38 ± 0.19 g in the PEA group to 1.67 ± 0.19 g in the MUN2 group over the 8-week intervention (Weight gain (g/kg BW/day) was not statistically different (At baseline, the mean haemoglobin concentration in the study population was 9.9 ± 1.3 g/dL (