Author(s)

Urbain Zongo, Steve Léonce Zoungrana, Aly Savadogo, Alfred S. Traoré

Department of Biochemistry-Microbiology, University of Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Department of Gastroenterology, Clinique de L’amitié, Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso..

Malnutrition in all its forms remains one of the most serious and neglected health problem. This longitudinal study referred pragmatic was carried out, which tested or aimed to assess the impact of Moringa leaf powder on the nutritional status of malnourished children. It was a pilot study in Ouagadougou severely malnourished children using Moringa as a nutritional supplement. We investigated the correlations and the impact of Moringa leaf powder on the nutritional status. A sample of 110 children aged 6 59 months were recruited and randomly selected and assigned to two treatments Group I and Group II. They received the CREN’s standard nutritional care diet but the Group I received more dose of 10 g of Moringa leaf powder per day. At the end, a significant improvement in the key parameters was recorded in both groups. However, the group receiving the Moringa supplement recorded a higher average weight gain (8.9 ± 4.3 g/kg/day, against 5.7 ± 2.72 g/kg/day in Group II) and a quicker recovery rate, with an average stay of 36 ± 16.54 days, against 57 ± 19.20 days amongst those not receiving the Moringa supplement. There is no significant improvement in hemoglobin rate in either group (p = 0.060 Group I, p = 0.063 Group II). Tolerability was considered to be good, as there were no recorded cases of medical admittance, no any occurrence of digestive disorders. The supplementation of Moringa leaf powder appears to be effective in improving the nutritional recovery of severely malnourished children.

Malnutrition; Anthropometric Parameters; Hemoglobin; Side Effects; Moringa Leaves

U. Zongo, S. Zoungrana, A. Savadogo and A. Traoré, "Nutritional and Clinical Rehabilitation of Severely Malnourished Children with Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaf Powder in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)," Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 9, 2013, pp. 991-997. doi: 10.4236/fns.2013.49128.