Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation has urged the government to stop icddr,b from continuing its work on ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) developed with local ingredients to help children facing severe acute malnutrition.

"We have written to the health minister and secretary to stop icddr, b from promoting RUTF," said Dr SK Roy, chairperson of the foundation, at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday.

In an international symposium on June 8, icddr,b announced that it developed RUTF with rice, lentil, chickpea, powder milk, sugar and soybean oil.  

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a condition where children are severely underweight or are stunted due to a lack of breastfeeding, supplementary food or diarrhoea. It can cause death, and those who survive do not fully develop their intellectual capacity.

Prof Tahmeed Ahmed, director at the Centre for Nutrition and Food Security at the icddr,b, said two types of RUTF – Sharnali 1 and Sharnali 2 -- are needed in Bangladesh as some five to six lakh children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition.

Just 92 grams of RUTF has more than 500 kilocalories, so it is not recommended for healthy children, he said.  

Dr Tahmeed said RUTF needs to go through a trial stage before it is provided free of cost to children suffering from SAM, who usually belong to poor families.

However, Dr SK Roy, a nutrition scientist, argued that RUTF, based on high energy and fat, is not required by Bangladeshi children.

He said multinationals marketing powder milk will commercialise RUTF.  

Besides, powder milk is a violation of the Breast Milk Substitute (BMS) Act 2013, Dr SK Roy said  

He suggested Bangladesh implement Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) strategy that encourages culturally acceptable traditional home-made improved recipes like payesh, butter halwa, firni and khichuri with frequent feeds to address malnutrition.

Prof MQK Talukder, adviser of BBF, said use of RUTF will gradually reduce breastfeeding in the long run.

However, talking to The Daily Star, Dr M Munirul Islam, a member of the icddr,b research team, said the amount of fatty acid and animal protein (50 percent) needed to treat the SAM children does not exist in the home-based food. Therefore, using powder milk in RUTF is necessary.

He said IYCF strategy is for healthy children, and added that RUTF is never against breastfeeding.