F100 Formula – Growth and protection for malnourished children according to recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO)

Recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health for use in malnourished children, F100 formula helps children improve weight, height, increase resistance, pushing away the fear of malnutrition and stunting in children.

Overview of F100 formula

The invention of the F100 formula applied in the treatment of malnutrition is one of the extremely valuable contributions of scientists at the end of the 20th century in the fight against global malnutrition. This is also a testament to the efforts of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations around the world to fight hunger and malnutrition, successfully bringing F100 to children who are on the brink of life and death due to severe malnutrition, caused by war and famine.

The story of the journey to combat global malnutrition began after the end of World War II, when non-governmental organizations and the United Nations joined hands to contribute to hunger eradication and reduction of malnutrition worldwide. The event was marked by the birth of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” in 1948.

Accordingly, the United Nations points out that the right to access food, eat, and drink is one of the basic human rights to life. However, having food is not enough, in order to live healthy, it is necessary to eat sufficiently in both quantity and quality.

Based on that foundation and a number of other social aspects, the Right to Food has been affirmed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. Accordingly, people have the right to be liberated from hunger, food shortages and malnutrition. However, it was not until 1974 that the way to solve this global problem was proposed at the first World Food Conference through the Joint Declaration on the eradication of hunger and malnutrition – a resolution of the United Nations sets certain expectations for participating countries, and provides guidelines to address the growing problem of malnutrition and hunger worldwide.

Having enough food in both quantity and quality is the key to allow children avoid malnutrition and stunting (Photo: Freepik)

Since then, a series of non-governmental relief organizations have also been gradually established to support countries with serious hunger and malnutrition situations. These organizations not only contribute food sources but also join hands to participate in scientific research activities to find the most effective malnutrition treatment regimens. And the source of the F100 formula, Action Against Hunger, is one of the pioneering organizations that has made great contributions in the fight against global malnutrition.

Action Against Hunger was founded by a group of French scholars, scientists and doctors on November 15, 1979 to jointly find solutions to hunger and poverty. nutrition worldwide. Among them, one of the most important solutions in Action Against Hunger’s fight against malnutrition is F100 Formula, a special milk formula for malnourished children applied by most rescue organizations around the world and recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).

F100 is a nutritional recovery formula High in Energy and Protein, in which every 100ml of product will provide 100 kcal of energy and 2.9g of Protein. Formula F100 contains the following specific nutritional content:

F100 Formula can be prepared from basic ingredients such as skimmed milk powder, sugar, cooking oil, Vitamin and mineral mixture and clean water for drinking in the following proportions.:

The preparer can mix skimmed milk powder, sugar and cooking oil with a little warm water to make the ingredients more soluble, then mix well with the titrated Vitamin and Mineral mixture so that the mixed mixture reaches a volume of 1000 ml. Formula F100 can also be commercially produced with WHO, “Management of Severe Malnutrition: A Manual for Physicians and Other Senior Health Workers.”

the right Vitamin and Mineral composition tailored to the nutritional status of local children, helping caregivers of malnourished children prepare High Energy meals more convenient and suitable.

F100 Formula – Nutritional recovery solution in the treatment of chronic malnutrition globally

It can be said that the most important factor in the treatment of malnutrition, which plays a decisive role in the speed of nutritional recovery in children, is the total energy added to the body. At this time, children are still seriously lacking in energy, protein and many other vitamins and minerals. According to recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1999, chronically malnourished children need to be supplemented with a high-energy diet according to the F100 formula during the nutritional recovery period after completing the initial treatment period, to regenerate energy and absorb enough nutrients into the body.

The F100 formula diet can be used at all of the child’s meals with an interval of 4 hours between meals. Caregivers of malnourished children can also give their children meals containing solid foods, however most common solid foods often have lower protein and energy content than F100 treatment milk, and lack some Vitamins and minerals such as Potassium, Magnesium and contain compounds that interfere with mineral absorption such as Zinc, Copper, Iron.

Malnourished children need to be supplemented with the F100 formula, with a 4-hour interval between meals. (Photo: Freepik)

Therefore, these local foods need more energy by adding cooking oil so that the protein and energy content of the meal reaches 1 kcal/1g of food, and at the same time need to supplement with a mixture of vitamins and minerals after cooking. The World Health Organization also recommends that formula F100 should still be used between meals with local solid foods as above to avoid reducing absorption of the above minerals. For example, if a child is fed six meals a day, of which the child is fed three meals of local food, between those meals, the child needs to be supplemented with three meals of therapeutic milk according to the F100 formula.

F100 formula is clinically proven to contribute to the treatment of malnutrition and improve children’s height and weight

The therapeutic effectiveness of F-100 milk formula has been proven on malnourished children worldwide. A study by Desjeux and colleagues published in 1998 studied the effectiveness of the F100 formula in treating malnutrition in refugee camps. According to French scientists, the average death rate of severely malnourished children treated in hospitals is up to 23.5% – unchanged for 50 years before the time of the study.

One of the causes of the number of children dying from severe malnutrition mentioned above is the lack of appropriate treatment regimens. Therefore, they tested the F100 product in treating acutely malnourished children in refugee camps and obtained unexpected results: The mortality rate in acutely malnourished children decreased from 23. 5% down below 5%^[1]. Formula F100 attracts special attention because of its ability to support rapid weight gain for malnourished children.

In Senegal, a 2003 study showed that using the F100 formula helped children gain 10.1g/kg of initial body weight/day^[2], This means that for example, for a 2-year-old malnourished child with an initial weight of 9kg, after 4 weeks of treatment with F100 formula, the child can gain 2.7kg, reaching the standard weight for his age. Another study in Pakistan also recorded faster weight gain with an increase of 14.1 ± 5.23 g/kg initial body weight/day, meaning that for 2-year-old malnourished children with initial weight If the weight is 9kg, after 4 weeks of treatment, the child can gain an additional 3.5kg – reaching the standard weight level for their age.

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Health also has instructions for using products with F100 formula and equivalent formula products in the treatment of malnutrition according to decisions No. 4487/QD-BYT and 3779/QD-BYT on the promulgation of “Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of acute malnutrition in children from 0 to 72 months of age”.

The product applies the F100 formula recommended and guided by the Ministry of Health for use in the treatment of malnutrition (Photo: Freepik)

A study on a group of children aged 6-7 years old in Thai Binh on the effectiveness of supplementing milk products with standard energy of 100 kcal/100ml in snacks has shown the effect of weight gain and height increase after 2 months of intervention. At the same time, the rate of underweight malnutrition decreased by 10.9% and the rate of children at risk of being underweight also decreased by 14.5%. Children supplemented with the above high-energy products tend to have improved respiratory tract infections, constipation, diarrhea and anorexia. Thus, F-100 is a nutritional formula that is applied globally and is suitable for Vietnamese children.

Understand the concerns and worries of parents when Vietnam is one of 34 countries globally facing the highest burden of malnutrition, and has up to 1.8 million children under 5 years old malnourished, at risk of long-term brain and physical damage, Nutricare company has spent a lot of time researching to apply the F100 formula into specialized nutritional supplement products for Vietnamese children. Most recently, the Nutricare Colos24h Grow Plus product applying F100 nutritional formula as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for malnourished children was launched, receiving many positive feedback in support for weight gaining, height increasing and strength improving for children.

Having undergone a process of development and application for more than 30 years, originating from the enthusiasm of French scientists from the Action Against Hunger organization, up to now, F-100 is still a revolutionary formula for the nutritional recovery process in malnourished children around the world, including Vietnam. This formula has brought positive values in the journey against global malnutrition in children.