Slow Introduction of Nutrition for Ill Malnourished Children

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if giving lower calorie feeds during the first stage of treatment helps improve survival in severely malnourished children who are ill. The main question it aims to answer is: Is it safe to feed ill severely malnourished children lower calorie feeds during the early treatment phase? Researchers will compare two lower calorie feeds (F50 and F35) to the standard feed (F75) to see if they help children recover safely without increasing their risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Participants will: * Receive one of the lower calorie feeds (F50 or F35) or the standard feed (F75) during their hospital stay. * Be closely monitored for low blood sugar and signs for worsening of clinical symptoms. * Be treated until they are stable and ready to be fed more calories to help them gain weight.

NCT Number	NCT06846749
Lead Sponsor	The Hospital for Sick Children Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, The Eleanor Crook Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Conditions	Malnutrition, Severe Acute, Malnutrition, Child, Malnutrition, Infant
Enrollment	135 participants
Start Date	2025-02-05
Primary Completion	2026-05-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-06-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-04-24