Cano‐Torres 2017.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT. Parallel design with 2 arms. Duration: intervention given for duration of hospital stay; follow‐up for 6 months (data collection at 2, 4, 6 months). Location: Mexico.
Participants	Inclusion criteria: adults over 20 years of age with malnutrition admitted to Dept. Internal Medicine. Exclusion criteria: expected length of stay less than 48h, disturbance of consciousness, psychiatric disease, pregnant or breastfeeding, chronic kidney disease, parenteral or enteral nutrition, needing ventilation, liver disease, CVD alcohol‐related disease, malignancy. Number randomised: 55 participants (intervention group n = 28, control group n = 27). Attrition: total n = 7 (intervention group n = 2, control group n = 5). Gender split: 22 (40%) males, 33 (60%) females. Age: mean (SD) 57.1 (20.7) years. Diagnoses: various, intervention group 61.5% chronic disease; control group 59% chronic disease. Nutritional status: BMI (kg/m²) at baseline: intervention group 24.7 (7.7) and control group 27.3(8.8). NRS score, mean (SD): intervention group 4.1 (0.8) and control group 4.2 (1.2).
Interventions	Intervention: participants received dietary advice in the form of an individualised nutrition plan from a clinical dietitian provided daily including, estimation of energy and protein requirements, motivation to adhere to diet, assessment of intake, nutritional counselling. Control group: participants received no dietary advice in the form of standard nutritional management in the hospital.
Outcomes	Length of stay, mortality, BMI, arm circumference.
Publication details	Language: English. Funding: none declared. Publication status: peer‐reviewed journal.
Notes	Email to authors, allocation concealment, confirm that length of stay and BMI are expressed as mean(SD)? mean change for BMI and arm circumference.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "patients were randomly allocated (using a list of random numbers generated by computer".
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Judged as unclear because insufficient information about how group allocation was concealed from participants.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Clinical outcomes	Low risk	It is not stated whether the outcome assessors were blinded to group allocation but unlikely that these outcomes would be influenced by lack of blinding.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Functional outcomes	Unclear risk	No functional outcomes assessed.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Nutritional outcomes	Low risk	Not described but nutritional intake not assessed and other nutritional outcomes unlikely to be influenced by lack of blinding.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not blinded and likely that researchers and participants were aware of group allocation as this was a nutritional intervention. It is possible that assessment of some outcomes was influenced by lack of blinding
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	It is not stated whether the outcome assessors were blinded and some outcome assessment might be influenced by lack of blinding.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Attrition fully described with reasons. 7 (intervention group n = 2/28 (7%) (1 death and 1 withdrawal), control group n = 5/27 (19%) (5 deaths)) drop outs out of 55 participants.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	No protocol identified. The stated outcomes of the study are mortality and length of stay and both of these are reported. A number of additional outcomes are also reported but not referred to explicitly in the methods, therefore judged as unclear risk of bias.
Other bias	Low risk	At baseline the control group had a lower haemoglobin level than the intervention group ‐ 10.2 (2.3) g/dL compared to 12.3 (2.7) g/dL; otherwise groups well‐balanced for all characteristics. This has been judged to be unlikely to affect the outcomes of interest.