A trial evaluating the systemic and ecological impact of zinc-biofortified maize consumption on cellular zinc status, inflammatory biomarkers, and gut microbiota composition in a cohort of Guatemalan mothers and children.

This is a pilot study conducted among a subset of participants in a larger food aid intervention program using biofortified maize (N=499). This analysis focuses on a highly compliant cohort of 30 households (N=60 individuals) providing high-fidelity multi-omic data.

Household Inclusion Criteria:

• Reside in the target area (Chiquimula Department, Guatemala);
• Participating in the World Vision (WV) nutrition program;
• Families accustomed to consuming maize;
• Interest to participate in an informative session;
• Presence of at least one woman of reproductive age (18-49 years) and one index child (12-59 months);
• Access to a mobile phone; (7) No concurrent participation in other nutrition or food aid programs.

Household exclusion Criteria:

• Women with problems understanding the study informed consent and the study survey;
• Women with any acute or chronic disease that affected dietary intake or nutritional status;
• Children with acute malnutrition 4.Children with any acute or chronic disease that affected dietary consumption or nutritional status;
• Households that failed to adhere to the study protocol during the previous intervention period (e.g., sold the study maize or diverted it for animal feed).

De-identified individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article (including microbiome sequencing metadata and nutritional biomarkers) will be made available to researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal.

Beginning 6 months and ending 5 years following article publication.

Data will be available upon request to the corresponding author (Prof. Elad Tako) to ensure the proposed use is consistent with the original informed consent and ethical approvals.