Høner, egg, ernæring, kalsium og flourose

The aim of the study is to assess the effects of egg and eggshell calcium consumption in improving nutritional status and mitigation of dental and skeletal fluorosis among children and mothers in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. With the promotion of eggs and chickens to rural farmers, as we are doing, eggshells are available. Our innovation is to use an age-old and low cost source of calcium, eggshell as dietary calcium to bind fluoride from food and beverages, preventing its absorption. This study will adopt a cluster randomized and controlled community trail with intervention and control clusters of gifting families in rural communities with chickens and promoting consumption of one egg a day by young children and eggshell powder to mothers. A total of 252 mother-child pairs will be included in the study. Anthropometry, dental and skeletal fluorosis, children growth milestones and biochemical, food and water samples will be collected and analyzed at baseline and end of the intervention.