Dewi Marhaeni Diah Herawati, Siti Nur Asiyah, Siska Wiramihardja, Shellita Melanie, Deni Kurniadi Sunjaya and Dida Akkad Gurnida
Objectives: Underweight in children under five years old remains a global health issue, including in Indonesia. The aim of the study was to analyze effects of Anguilla biscuit on bodyweight improvement of fewer than five years old with underweight. Methods: Study was conducted in Sumedang District, Indonesia. Study design was randomized controlled trial (RCT). Subjects were 56 children under five years old with underweight. These children then divided equally into intervention and control groups. Intervention was performed in 90 days in which the intervention group was consume Anguilla biscuit daily, while the control group was consume standard biscuit from Ministry of Health of Indonesia. Anthropometrical measurement had been held weekly, while energy and protein intake was assessed every two weeks by 24 hours recall method. Results: There was an improvement on the mean bodyweight both for intervention and control group (pvalue= 0.001). Improvement in intervention and control groups was 0.952 kg and 0.285 kg, consecutively. There was a significant difference in mean Z-score between intervention and control groups (p-value=0.001). Intervention group’s mean Z-score increased by 0.49, while control group 0.04. The Z-score improvement in intervention group was rose during the second month. Conclusion: Supplementation of Anguilla biscuit in 3 months has increased the bodyweight and Z-score better than standard one.
