The Impact of Oral Nutritional Supplement Plus Dietary Counseling on Growth Outcomes in Young Children

Summary:

In this video, John Stutts, MD, MPH, FAAP, and Grace Niemiro, PhD, discuss a recent multi-site, randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of an oral nutrition supplement plus dietary counseling on growth outcomes in young children. They also explore the study’s design and findings, and discuss implications for clinical practice in addressing pediatric undernutrition.

Key Takeaways:

• The study’s primary outcome, which was the change in weight for age Z-score at 120 days, was significantly higher in the oral nutritional supplement plus dietary counseling group compared to dietary counseling alone.
• The study also found a significantly higher change in various weight measurements at 30, 60, and 120 days such as weight-for-age percentile, weight-for-age Z-score, and overall weight in the oral nutritional supplement plus dietary counseling group compared to dietary counseling alone.

Related Questions & Answers

• Can undernutrition in a child have an impact on their health long term?
  Undernutrition in a child, even for a short time may have a long lasting impact on their health.
• What tools can be used to help increase calories and nutrients in undernourished children?
  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasizes to first promote the increase of calories and nutrients using the whole foods approach (defined as dietary counseling in this study).  Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) are another tool that can also be used to help children increase their caloric intake when they are behind in growth.

References:

• Niemiro, G. M., Baggs, G., Hicks, P., & Williams, J. A. (2025). Oral Nutritional Supplement Improves Pediatric Growth Indicators More Than Dietary Counseling Alone Over 120 Days. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.106753. Abstract.
• AAP Committee on Nutrition, Greer FR, Abrams SA. Pediatric Nutrition. 9th ed. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2025.

Disclosures:

• Speakers are employees of Abbott Research & Development.