Trial reportThe Journal of nutrition2017
Following the World Health Organization's Recommendation of Exclusive Breastfeeding to 6 Months of Age Does Not Impact the Growth of Rural Gambian Infants.
Trial report in The Journal of nutrition, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Acknowledging the gap: a systematic review of micronutrient supplementation in infants under six months of age.Wellcome open research · 2020Pooled it
- Gut Prevotella stercorea associates with protection against infection in rural African children.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Association between breast milk intake at 9-10 months of age and growth and development among Malawian young children.Maternal & child nutrition · 2018Trial
- Distinct associations among human milk microbiota and minerals in relation to early infant growth: a longitudinal study.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of the Hospital to Home discharge and follow-up programme in rural Uganda: a mixed-methods intervention study.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Maternal readiness for weaning: Influencing factors and determinants.Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P · 2025Article
- Daily iron supplementation does not impact on prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding or growth in young breastfed Gambian infants.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2025Article
- Effects of feeding patterns during the first 6 months on weight development of infants ages 0-12 months: a longitudinal study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Effect of Breastfeeding Practices of Undernourished Mothers in Rural Sierra Leone on Infant Growth and Mortality.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Improving infant Neurocognitive Development and Growth Outcomes with micronutrients (INDiGO): A protocol for an efficacy trial in rural Gambia.Wellcome open research · 2024Article
- Article
- New insights in pediatrics in 2021: choices in allergy and immunology, critical care, endocrinology, gastroenterology, genetics, haematology, infectious diseases, neonatology, neurology, nutrition, palliative care, respiratory tract illnesses and telemedicine.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2022Review
- Implications for quantifying early life growth trajectories of term-born infants using INTERGROWTH-21st newborn size standards at birth in conjunction with World Health Organization child growth standards in the postnatal period.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2022Article
- Infant Feeding Practices That Substitute Exclusive Breastfeeding in a Semi-Rural Mexican Community: Types, Moments, and Associated Factors.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Timing and pattern of growth faltering in children up-to 18 months of age and the associated feeding practices in an urban setting of Sri Lanka.BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
- Infant feeding practices associated with adiposity peak and rebound in the EDEN mother-child cohort.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2022Article
- Gut microbiomes from Gambian infants reveal the development of a non-industrialized Prevotella-based trophic network.Nature microbiology · 2022Article
- DNA methylation at a nutritionally sensitive region of theScience advances · 2021Article
- Plasma lipids and growth faltering: A longitudinal cohort study in rural Gambian children.Science advances · 2021Article
- Aflatoxin Exposure during Early Life Is Associated with Differential DNA Methylation in Two-Year-Old Gambian Children.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 mo of life.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to assess the benefit of EBF to age 6 mo on growth in a large sample of rural Gambian infants at high risk of undernutrition.
methodsInfants with growth monitoring from birth to 2 y of age (n = 756) from the ENID (Early Nutrition and Immune Development) trial were categorized as exclusively breastfed if only breast milk and no other liquids or foods were given. EBF status was entered into confounder-adjusted multilevel models to test associations with growth trajectories by using >11,000 weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ), and weight-for-length (WLZ) z score observations.
resultsThirty-two percent of infants were exclusively breastfed to age 6 mo. The mean age of discontinuation of EBF was 5.2 mo, and growth faltering started at ∼3.5 mo of age. Some evidence for a difference in WAZ and WHZ was found between infants who were exclusively breastfed to age 6 mo (EBF-6) and those who were not (nEBF-6), at 6 and 12 mo of age, with EBF-6 children having a higher mean z score. The differences in z scores between the 2 groups were small in magnitude (at 6 mo of age: 0.147 WAZ; 95% CI: -0.001, 0.293 WAZ; 0.189 WHZ; 95% CI: 0.038, 0.341 WHZ). No evidence for a difference between EBF-6 and nEBF-6 infants was observed for LAZ at any time point (6, 12, and 24 mo of age). Furthermore, a higher mean WLZ at 3 mo of age was associated with a subsequent higher mean age at discontinuation of EBF, which implied reverse causality in this setting (coefficient: 0.060; 95% CI: 0.008, 0.120).
conclusionThis study suggests that EBF to age 6 mo has limited benefit to the growth of rural Gambian infants. This trial was registered at http://www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN49285450.
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