Peer-reviewed article
Daily Complementary Feeding With Eggs Improves Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 in Infants.
Regina Nakiranda, Linda Malan, Hannah Ricci, Herculina S Kruger, Arista Nienaber et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This randomised controlled trial tested whether giving eggs daily to South African infants aged 6-9 months for 6 months would improve their health and growth. The study measured markers of gut dysfunction and growth in 500 infants split equally between those given eggs and a control group. Daily egg feeding reduced a marker called FGF21 that is linked to growth resistance, though the study found that high levels of certain gut markers were still associated with poor growth outcomes.
Key points
- Daily egg supplementation for 6 months significantly reduced fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) concentration in the intervention group
- Higher baseline IGF-1 levels were associated with better growth measures and lower odds of wasting, stunting and being underweight
- Higher baseline FGF21 and I-FABP levels were associated with increased odds of stunting, wasting and being underweight
- Baseline soluble CD14 was associated with 30% increased odds of being underweight
- The study links environmental enteric dysfunction markers to growth faltering in infants
Limitations
This is a secondary analysis focusing on biomarkers rather than direct growth outcomes; the document does not clearly report whether the egg intervention actually improved growth measures (length, weight) compared to control, only that it reduced one biomarker.
Abstract
This secondary analysis of the Eggcel-growth study investigated the effect of daily egg intake for 6 months in infants aged 6-9 months on environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) biomarkers and the association of EED markers with growth faltering. A randomised controlled trial was conducted in Jouberton, South Africa, among 500 infants randomly assigned equally to either an intervention group receiving a daily chicken egg or a control group. Both groups were followed up for 6 months. Data on infant and maternal sociodemographic information and anthropometric status of infants were collected. EED and inflammatory markers were analysed using Q-Plex Human EED (11-Plex) assay. There was a significant reduction in fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) concentration in the intervention group (B = -0.132; 95% CI -0.255, -0.010; p = 0.035). Baseline, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) was positively associated with endpoint length-for-age z-score (LAZ), weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) and weight-for-length z-score (WLZ) and there was an inverse relationship between baseline FGF21 and intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) with endpoint growth indicators. Baseline IGF-1 was positively associated with reduced odds of wasting, stunting and being underweight (p < 0.001) and baseline FGF21 was associated with increased odds of stunting (p = 0.002), wasting (p = 0.031) and being underweight (p = 0.035). There was a 20% increased odds of stunting with baseline I-FABP (p = 0.045) and a 30% increased odds of being underweight with baseline soluble CD14 (p = 0.039). Complementary feeding with eggs decreased growth hormone resistance (reduced FGF21 levels); however, FGF21 and I-FABP levels were linked to increased growth faltering. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05168085.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
Problem
Environmental enteric dysfunction and growth faltering in infants aged 6-9 months in South Africa
- Intervention
- Daily chicken egg complementary feeding for 6 months
- Population
- 500 infants aged 6-9 months in Jouberton, South Africa
Key finding
FGF21 concentration reduced significantly in intervention group (B = -0.132; 95% CI -0.255, -0.010; p = 0.035)