Local High-Protein, Plant-Based Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food Enhances Recovery from Malnutrition in Rats

Background: Infant or child malnutrition is a major public health issue. With global funding cuts and increasing incidence because of conflicts and climate change, finding cost effective and sustainable solutions is highly needed. Objectives: We conducted a preclinical study to mimic child acute malnutrition (AM) and evaluate recovery using a novel plant-based ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) made from locally available ingredients from sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: Three-week-old rats were assigned to a 6-wk experiment consisting of a 3-wk induction phase, followed by a 3-wk dietary intervention phase. During the induction phase, the rats received either a balanced diet (control) or a protein-deficient diet (to induce malnutrition). For the subsequent intervention phase, both the control and malnourished rats were switched to either a commercial peanut milk (PM) RUTF or a locally produced plant-based chickpea–sorghum–maize–soybean (ChSMS) RUTF, or remained on the same diet as the induction phase. Results: Compared with the PM formulation, the ChSMS formulation provided a higher protein content (14% compared with 10% of total energy) and greater protein quality (Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score of 87% compared with 69%, respectively). ChSMS was consumed in higher amounts by the rats and resulted in significantly greater body weight and length as compared with PM. In malnourished animals, ChSMS led to catch-up growth, whereas PM did not. Conclusions: These findings indicate that a locally produced, culturally acceptable, and affordable plant-based RUTF formulated with high protein quality and density may be effective in treating AM in children. Moreover, the observed reversal of stunting and subsequent catch-up growth indicate that this formulation may also be efficacious as a lipid-based supplement in addressing chronic malnutrition. This trial was registered at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) Authority for Biological and Biomedical Models https://animals.huji.ac.il/; https://animals.huji.ac.il/form/request-perform-research-animals-decision-if-specified-research-experiment-animals-defined-law (ABBMS) as Ethics Number AG-22-16962-3.