Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) Pilot Feasibility RCT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) Pilot Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial: Community facilitator led participatory learning and action (PLA) women’s groups to improve infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices in South Asian infants aged < 2 years in East London
IRAS ID
296259
Contact name
Logan Manikam
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London Joint Research Office (part of the Research Support Centre)
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
142660, Applicant's/organisation's own reference number
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 10 months, 31 days
Research summary
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are an important period for both growth and brain development. There is mounting evidence that influences during pregnancy and infancy may alter lifetime risk of nutrition and dental related diseases. Feeding practices developed during this period can therefore impact children’s nutrition, growth, dental health and cognitive development, and may lead to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes in the long term.
Systematic reviews of studies assessing complementary feeding practices, and the sociocultural beliefs that underpin them, in children <2 years old within South Asian (SA) families living in the UK were explored. Findings showed that despite the adoption of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Infant and Young Children Feeding Guidelines, substantial evidence of non-recommended complementary feeding practices are being followed.
Effective intervention in early life in these ethnic groups therefore has great potential to reduce the growth of short- & long-term conditions as well as lifetime inequalities. Currently, few interventions exist that are tailored to infants and young children of different ethnic groups. Considering the limited NHS resources and the NHS 10 Year Forward Plan which aims to shift the emphasis to the community, there is a need for low-cost community-based culturally sensitive interventions that utilise community assets.
The Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) group cycle is an iterative process led by multilingual facilitators who facilitate the participants through a four-stage cycle of identifying and prioritising contextual issues, designing strategies to address these issues and a post-implementation evaluation. By adapting a community engagement approach using the PLA cycle, the NEON pilot feasibility randomised controlled trial is a 3-years NIHR Advance Fellowship that collaborates with community facilitators and members of the SA population to optimise infant feeding, care, and dental hygiene practices within SA infants aged <2 years in East London.REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SW/0142
Date of REC Opinion
6 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion