Treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children 6 to 59 Months Old With Standard Ready To Use Therapeutic Food Compared to a Newly Formulated Lipid Optimized Ready To Use Therapeutic Food

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to learn if a newly formulated Lipid-Optimized Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (LO-RUTF) can treat severe acute malnutrition in children aged 6 to 59 months. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does LO-RUTF impact physical recovery from severe acute malnutrition in participants? 2. Does LO-RUTF impact neurocognitive performance after 8 and 12 weeks of treatment? Researchers will compare LO-RUTF to standard RUTF see if our energy-dense food compares to standard issue RUTF in terms of promoting recovery from severe acute malnutrition. Participants will * Take a one-week ration of LO-RUTF or standard RUTF based on the participant's weight * Return every week for checkups, tests and to receive the next ration of assigned RUTF if eligible * Be assessed for neurocognitive function through Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) at three time points (before treatment, 4 weeks, 12 weeks)

NCT Number	NCT07345884
Lead Sponsor	University of California, Los Angeles Collaborators: Aga Khan University
Conditions	Severe Acute Malnutrition in Childhood, Malnutrition, Child, Neurocognition, Child
Enrollment	125 participants
Start Date	2026-06
Primary Completion	2026-08 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-10 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-04-22