Green banana-supplemented diet in the home management of acute and prolonged diarrhoea in children: a community-based trial in rural Bangladesh

Objective To determine the effectiveness of green banana in the home management of acute (<7 days) or prolonged (≥7 days) diarrhoea at the community level. Methods A cluster randomized field trial was conducted among 2968 Bangladeshi rural children 6–36 months old. Wards (villages) were randomly assigned to either a standard care group or a standard care plus green banana group where mothers were instructed to add cooked green banana to the diets of diarrhoeal children. Through a village-based surveillance system, diarrhoeal morbidity data (severity, duration, compliance) were collected for 14 days. Treatment effects were determined by analysing cumulative probability of cure by testing Cox proportional hazards models and relative risk (RR). Results The cumulative probability of cure was significantly (P…