International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), which first started as Cholera Research Laboratory (CRL) in 1960 in Dhaka to study the microbiology of cholera, earned international fame by innovating Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) in mid-1960s.The findings of the first large-scale clinical trial of ORT were published in the internationally acclaimed British medical journal, the Lancet, in 1968. Based on the research, WHO later introduced the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) formula, a mixture of salt, sugar and clean water, in 1975 that has now become a household word in the country as it helped save millions of lives from cholera epidemic every year. Now icddr,b has come up with yet another therapeutic food that can save children who underwent long-term chronic health conditions due to severe childhood malnutrition and, to some extent, to the faulty or imperfect development of the gut microbiome in children. Gut microbiome is the collection of all microorganisms that live in the human gut or gastrointestinal tract. The therapeutic food called, Microbiota-Directed Complementary Food No.2, or MCDF-2, helps the production of a specific kind of bacteria in the gut that break down food into molecules that have links to the development of bone and brain.
This therapeutic food, MCDF-2, for malnourished children was born of a collaboration between Dr Tahmeed Ahmed, executive director of icddr,b and Dr Jeffry Gordon, director of the Edison Family Centre for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr Tahmeed's work centred around his decades-long research on malnutrition in Bangladesh, while Dr Gordon was famous for his pioneering work on human gut microbiome. And together they developed MCDF-2, which Time magazine has listed in its Social Impact category among the 'Best Inventions of 2025'.
"Our decade-long research indicated the gut microbiome plays a central role in how children grow and respond to nutrition", Dr Gordon explained, adding, "The beneficial bacteria we identified help process vital dietary components that our bodies cannot do on their own, providing a foundation for designing foods that restore healthy growth".
In this connection, Dr Gordon further informed that well-controlled clinical trials of MCDF-2 in Bangladeshi children have shown its ability to repair these children's microbiome and has effects that extend well beyond the wall of the gut- revealing how our community of trillions of gut microbes profoundly affects so many facets of human postnatal development.
Dr Tahmeed on his part said, "It shows how science and compassion can come together to address one of the most persistent global health challenges. MCDF-2 gives us new hope that locally developed, affordable solutions can help millions of undernourished children not only to survive but to thrive." As could be further learnt, MCDF-2 is a mixture of roasted and ground chickpea, soybean, peanut, green banana, soybean oil and a premixed vitamin-mineral blend. These are then mixed with other components in an electric mixer to form a paste. These ingredients were selected for their ability to nourish specific beneficial gut bacteria that support healthy growth, immune function and neurodevelopment in children affected by malnutrition.
Undernutrition remains a major threat to child survival and development worldwide and is responsible for nearly half of all under-five deaths. And this global issue has been further complicated by displacements caused by wars and natural disasters leaving millions of children at risk of stunting (low height-for-age) and wasting (low-weight-for height). Major studies are now underway with this microbiome-directed therapeutic food in India, Pakistan, Mali and Tanzania. Undeniably, the researches of Dr Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in the USA and Dr Tahmeed Ahmed of the icddr,b of Bangladesh have shed new light on how food can now be scientifically prepared to address malnutrition among children better. Thankfully, the ingredients of that revolutionary food can be had from our local kitchen market. This is indeed good news for mothers with newborns who cannot afford expensive baby foods in the market.
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