Table A2.

QUALITY APPRAISAL OF PAPERS INCLUDED IN LITERATURE REVIEW RESULTS

Study	External Validity Score (Section 1)	nternal Validity Score (Section 2‐4)
Treating moderate acute malnutrition in first‐line health services: An effectiveness cluster‐randomized trial in Burkina Faso. Nikièma et al., 2014	++	+ No blinding. Greater loss to fup in control group
Community‐based follow‐up with/without food supplementation and/or psychosocial stimulation in the management of children with moderate acute malnutrition in Bangladesh Hossain et al., 2012, 2014, 2016 (conference abstracts)	‐ Children selected from those with diarrhoea only	‐ Allocation unclear. Cluster sample size n=1 per group. Details of measurements not given. Recovery rate, and p‐values not presented.
Intensive Nutrition Education with or without Supplementary Feeding Improves the Nutritional Status of Moderately‐malnourished Children in Bangladesh Roy et al., 2005	++	+ Who did randomization? W/L not present as outcome
Limited impact of a targeted food supplementation programme in Bangladeshi urban slum children Fauveau et al., 1992	++	+ Randomisation method resulted in more malnourished children in intervention group
Effect of short‐term supplementation with ready‐to‐use therapeutic food or micronutrients for children after Illness for prevention of malnutrition: a randomised controlled trial in Nigeria van der Kam et al., 2016	++	+ How was randomisation managed/monitored?
Effectiveness of supplementary blended flour based on chickpea and cereals for the treatment of infants with moderate acute malnutrition in Iran: A randomized clinical trial. Javan et al., 2017	++	++
Effects of community‐based follow‐up care in managing severely underweight children Hossain et al., 2011	++	+ Not blinded, doesn't report some of the listed outcomes
The Kingston Project. I. Growth of malnourished children during rehabilitation in the community, given a high energy supplement Heikens et al., 1989	+ Only referrals	+ No mention of blinding. How randomized?
A randomized controlled trial of two ready‐to‐use supplementary foods demonstrates benefit of the higher dairy supplement for reduced wasting in mothers, and differential impact in infants and children associated with maternal supplement response Schlossman et al., 2017	+ Who selected villages?	‐ Controls changed behaviour, underpowered, not blinded
Effect of fortified complementary food supplementation on child growth in rural Bangladesh: a cluster‐randomized trial Christian et al., 2015	++	++
Effect of mass supplementation with ready‐to‐use supplementary food during an anticipated nutritional emergency Grellety et al., 2012	+ Intervention versus control not randomized	‐ Not randomized. Not intervention. Difference in loss to follow up between intervention and control groups
Note.(−) Poor‐quality, (+) Adequate‐quality, and (++) Good‐quality.