Hebrew University scientists test a malnutrition treatment made from locally grown crops

Severe acute malnutrition kills hundreds of thousands of young children every year, yet only about three in ten children who need treatment receive it. The standard remedy, a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) based on peanuts and powdered milk, is effective but expensive and often imported. A study led from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, publicised by the university on 6 October 2026, suggests a locally sourced alternative could work even better.

The team, led by visiting researcher Dr. Aurélie Bechoff with Prof. Efrat Monsonego-Ornan and Prof. Ram Reifen, developed a high-protein paste called ChSMS from chickpeas, sorghum, maize and soybeans, crops that can be grown in many of the countries most affected by child hunger. Compared with the commercial peanut-and-milk product, the new food delivered more of its energy as protein, about 14 percent against 10 percent, and scored markedly higher on a standard measure of protein quality.

In experiments with young rats that had been made malnourished on a protein-poor diet, animals given ChSMS ate more, gained more weight and grew longer than those given the commercial formula. Only the ChSMS group showed true catch-up growth. Because bone growth recovered too, the researchers suggest the food might one day help tackle stunting, the chronic form of malnutrition that leaves children permanently shorter, as well as acute wasting.

The work, published in Current Developments in Nutrition, involved partners from the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent, the University of Nottingham, Benue State University in Nigeria and organisations in Kenya and Ireland. The authors stress that the results are preclinical and that trials in children are needed before the food can be recommended. They argue, however, that producing therapeutic foods from regional crops would cut costs and make treatment programs less vulnerable to disruptions in global supply chains.