Perinatal Consumption of Thiamine-Fortified Fish Sauce in Rural Cambodia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Infantile beriberi, a potentially fatal disease caused by thiamine deficiency, remains a public health concern in Cambodia and regions where thiamine-poor white rice is a staple food. Low maternal thiamine intake reduces breast milk thiamine concentrations, placing breastfed infants at risk of beriberi.

Objective: To determine if consumption of thiamine-fortified fish sauce yields higher erythrocyte thiamine diphosphate concentrations (eTDP) among lactating women and newborn infants and higher breast milk thiamine concentrations compared with a control sauce.

Design, Setting, and Participants: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, 90 pregnant women were recruited in the Prey Veng province, Cambodia. The study took place between October 2014 and April 2015.

Interventions: Women were randomized to 1 of 3 groups (n = 30) for ad libitum fish sauce consumption for 6 months: control (no thiamine), low-concentration (2 g/L), or high-concentration (8 g/L) fish sauce.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Maternal eTDP was assessed at baseline (October 2014) and endline (April 2015). Secondary outcomes, breast milk thiamine concentration and infant eTDP, were measured at endline.

Results: Women's mean (SD) age and gestational stage were 26 (5) years and 23 (7) weeks, respectively. April 2015 eTDP was measured among 28 women (93%), 29 women (97%), and 23 women (77%) in the control, low-concentration, and high-concentration groups, respectively. In modified intent-to-treat analysis, mean baseline-adjusted endline eTDP was higher among women in the low-concentration (282nM; 95% CI, 235nM to 310nM) and high-concentration (254nM; 95% CI, 225nM to 284nM) groups compared with the control group (193nM; 95% CI, 164nM to 222M; P < .05); low-concentration and high-concentration groups did not differ (P = .19). Breast milk total thiamine concentrations were 14.4 μg/dL for the control group (95% CI, 12.3 μg/dL to 16.5 μg/dL) (to convert to nanomoles per liter, multiply by 29.6); 20.7 μg/dL for the low-concentration group (95% CI, 18.6 μg/dL to 22.7 μg/dL ); and 17.7 μg/dL for the high-concentration group (95% CI, 15.6 μg/dL to 19.9 μg/dL). Mean (SD) infant age at endline was 16 (8) weeks for the control group, 17 (7) weeks for the low-concentration group, and 14 (8) for the high-concentration group. Infant eTDP was higher among those in the high-concentration group (257nM; 95% CI, 222nM to 291nM; P < .05) compared with the low-concentration (212nM; 95% CI, 181nM to 244nM) and control (187nM; 95% CI, 155nM to 218nM) groups.

Conclusions and Relevance: Compared with women in the control group, women who consumed thiamine-fortified fish sauce through pregnancy and early lactation had higher eTDP and breast milk thiamine concentrations and their infants had higher eTDP, which was more pronounced in the high group. Thiamine-fortified fish sauce has the potential to prevent infantile beriberi in this population.

Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02221063.