Methods	Design: RCT
	Unit of randomisation: Individually randomised trial
Participants	Location/Setting: A secondary girls school in Pune City, Maharashtra, India
	Sample size: 180 apparently healthy adolescent girls
	Dropouts/withdrawals: 8 loss to follow‐up of 180
	Sex: Adolescent girls only
	Mean age: 12.5 (0.85) years
	Inclusion criteria: Apaarently healthy adolescent girls
	Exclusion criteria: Girls who were ill or had in the recent past any illness such as fever, respiratory or gastrointestinal infection, or those undergoing medical treatment, or taking multivitamin mineral supplements were identified and excluded from the study
Interventions	Intervention (sample size):
	Intervention group 1 (N = 60)
	Supplement was provided in the form of six different snacks to each girl with one snack (average amount 100 g/serving) per day for 6 school days in a week. The average zinc content of the food supplements was 2.2 ± 0.4 mg/serving
	Intervention group 2 (N = 59)
	The ayurvedic zinc tablet containing 20 mg of jasad bhasma, equivalent to 16.6 mg of elemental zinc, was given to each girl every day for 6 school days/week under the guidance of an ayurvedic doctor
	The intervention was provided for a duration of 10 weeks
	Control (sample size):
	Control group (N = 53)
	No supplements given to control
Outcomes	Primary outcomes: Dietry intake, haemoglobin levels, plasma zinc, plasma beta‐carotene, plasma retinol, plasma vitamin C
	Secondary outcomes: Not specified
	Timing of outcome assessment: After 10 weeks of intervention
Notes	Study start date: Not specified
	Study end date: Not specified
	Funding source: Zensar Foundation, Pune, India
	Conflicts of interest: Not specified