18. Supplementary feeding versus no supplementary feeding (control, placebo, standard care, dietary advice), outcome: disease‐related biochemical parameters.
| Review | Target group | Intervention | Outcome | Corresponding risk with intervention (95% CI) | Number of participants (studies) | Certainty of evidence (GRADE)a |
| CD4 (cells/mm3) | ||||||
| Grobler 2013 | Adults with HIV | Balanced | CD4 (12 weeks' follow‐up) | MD –114.48 (–233.20 to 4.23) | 81 (2) | Low |
| Specific (OKG)b | Mean CD4 count at study endpoint | MD –28.00 (–134.93 to 78.93) | 46 (1) | NR | ||
| Specific (GLN)c | MD 66.00 (–53.39 to 185.39) | 21 (1) | NR | |||
| Viral load (log10 copies/mL) | ||||||
| Grobler 2013 | Adults with HIV | Balanced | Viral load (12 weeks' follow‐up) | MD –3.71 (–12.16 to 4.74) | 66 (1) | Very low |
| Specific (OKG)b | Mean viral load at study endpoint | MD 0.20 (–0.58 to 0.98) | 46 (1) | NR | ||
| CI: confidence interval;GLN: L‐glutamine; MD: mean difference; NR: not reported; OKG: ornithine alpha‐ketoglutarate. | ||||||
aAs reported in 'Summary of findings' tables. bMonohydrated L‐ornithine alpha‐ketoglutarate versus placebo. c L‐glutamine versus placebo.
Additional comments
- Additional, disease‐related, biochemical parameter outcomes reported narratively in the Kristjansson 2015a review. One controlled before‐and‐after (CBA) study in a low‐ and middle‐income country reported a significant effect of supplementation on the risk of anaemia (P = 0.003; 110 participants at final survey); those who were supplemented had a lower risk of being anaemic (odds ratio (OR) 0.58, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.75) (Lutter 2008). Similarly, another CBA with 250 participants reported that while the prevalence of anaemia decreased by 27% in the intervention group, it decreased by only 13% in the control group (De Romaña 2000). In high‐income countries, one randomised controlled trial with 103 children found no significant difference between the intervention and the control groups in change in haemoglobin (Yeung 2000). One CBA with 116 children reported an increase in the number of Aboriginal children who had low haemoglobin levels in the intervention group and a decrease in the corresponding number in the control group (Coyne 1980).