| CTRI Number |
CTRI/2025/10/095752 [Registered on: 08/10/2025] Trial Registered Prospectively |
| Last Modified On: |
07/10/2025 |
| Post Graduate Thesis |
No |
| Type of Trial |
Interventional |
|
Type of Study
|
Other (Specify) [Quasi experimental field trial] |
| Study Design |
Other |
|
Public Title of Study
|
Nutri-Gardens to enrich institutional meals to diversify diets in Children. |
|
Scientific Title of Study
|
Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits. |
| Trial Acronym |
The Village bAsed nuTri garden and nutrItion Knowledge and Awareness for diversified diets in children (VATIKA) Trial |
|
Secondary IDs if Any
|
| Secondary ID |
Identifier |
| NIL |
NIL |
|
|
Details of Principal Investigator or overall Trial Coordinator (multi-center study)
|
| Name |
Professor Vivekanand Jha |
| Designation |
Executive Director |
| Affiliation |
The George Institute for Global Health, India |
| Address |
The George Institute for Global Health, India
308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi
New Delhi DELHI 110025 India |
| Phone |
8527544733 |
| Fax |
|
| Email |
vjha@georgeinstitute.org.in |
|
Details of Contact Person Scientific Query
|
| Name |
Dr Suparna Ghosh Jerath |
| Designation |
Head Nutrition |
| Affiliation |
The George Institute for Global Health, India |
| Address |
The George Institute for Global Health, India
308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi
New Delhi DELHI 110025 India |
| Phone |
9711311910 |
| Fax |
|
| Email |
sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in |
|
Details of Contact Person Public Query
|
| Name |
Dr Suparna Ghosh Jerath |
| Designation |
Head Nutrition |
| Affiliation |
The George Institute for Global Health, India |
| Address |
The George Institute for Global Health, India
308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi
New Delhi DELHI 110025 India |
| Phone |
9711311910 |
| Fax |
|
| Email |
sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in |
|
|
Source of Monetary or Material Support
|
| The George Institute for Global Health India |
|
|
Primary Sponsor
|
| Name |
The George Institute for Global Health, India |
| Address |
The George Institute for Global Health, India
308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi |
| Type of Sponsor |
Research institution |
|
|
Details of Secondary Sponsor
|
|
|
Countries of Recruitment
|
India |
|
Sites of Study
|
| No of Sites = 1 |
| Name of Principal
Investigator |
Name of Site |
Site Address |
Phone/Fax/Email |
| Dr Suparna Ghosh Jerath |
The George Institute for Global Health, India |
221, Bhagwanpur khurd, Near Vriddha ashram, railway station road, Ambikapur, Sarguja district, Chhattisgarh, 497001 Surguja CHHATTISGARH |
09711311910
sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in |
|
|
Details of Ethics Committee
|
| No of Ethics Committees= 3 |
| Name of Committee |
Approval Status |
| Institutional Ethics Committee, The George Institute for Global Health, India. |
Approved |
| NOC |
No Objection Certificate |
| NOC |
No Objection Certificate |
|
|
Regulatory Clearance Status from DCGI
|
|
|
Health Condition / Problems Studied
|
| Health Type |
Condition |
| Healthy Human Volunteers |
Healthy individuals |
|
|
Intervention / Comparator Agent
|
| Type |
Name |
Details |
| Comparator Agent |
Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits.
Acronym: VATIKA (Village bAsed nuTri garden and nutrItion Knowledge and Awareness for diversified diets in children) |
In control arm, Primary schools and AWCs who do not receive the intervention and are availing the routine institutional feeding program run by the government. |
| Intervention |
Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits.
Acronym: VATIKA (Village bAsed nuTri garden and nutrItion Knowledge and Awareness for diversified diets in children) |
The various components of the intervention package include:
1. Establishment and management of community-managed nutri-gardens to support the supply of fresh vegetables to schools and Anganwadi centres in specific areas across 2 blocks of Surguja district
2. Developing and implementing revised, diversified, seasonal cyclic menus for Schools and AWC utilizing culturally acceptable, local recipes using local produce.
3. Capacity building and enabling the schoolteachers, cooks and Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers, for managing the local supply chain and bulk preparation of the cyclic menu in the schools and AWCs using sound principles of food preparation for nutrient retention and food safety
4. Enhancing the competency of frontline workers and teachers in providing nutrition education on healthy eating, sustainable diets, and diets for the prevention of NCDs and management of noncommunicable diseases (on a need basis by frontline healthcare workers) to the program beneficiaries and the community in general to enhance healthy eating and dietary diversity at household level. |
|
|
Inclusion Criteria
|
| Age From |
18.00 Year(s) |
| Age To |
49.00 Year(s) |
| Gender |
Both |
| Details |
1. Parent and child dyad with parent aged 18 to 49 years and child 7-11 years attending government primary school.
2. Parent and child dyad with parent aged 18 to 49 years and child 3-6 years Anganwadi. |
|
| ExclusionCriteria |
| Details |
1. Pregnant women
2. Child not attending AWC and Government primary schools
3. Child suffering from health condition which limits him/her to eat balanced diet |
|
|
Method of Generating Random Sequence
|
Not Applicable |
|
Method of Concealment
|
Not Applicable |
|
Blinding/Masking
|
Not Applicable |
|
Primary Outcome
|
| Outcome |
TimePoints |
| Enhancement of Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) of Children (3–11 years) |
Baseline and endline |
|
|
Secondary Outcome
|
| Outcome |
TimePoints |
| 1. Adequacy of nutrient intake (macronutrients such as energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium, retinol, beta-carotene, vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6, total folate (B9), B12, vitamin C) of children will be calculated using EAR cut-point method and full probability approach (for iron). The food intake data will be used to calculate nutrient intakes using the validated software-DietCal (Version 10.0; Profound Tech Solution). This software is based on the nutritive values of foods from the Indian Food Composition Table (IFCT), 2017. The nutrient intakes will then be converted to usual nutrient intakes and the EAR cut-point method will be used to assess the nutrient inadequacy by comparing individual nutrient intakes to the EAR and determining the proportion of intakes below the cut-off. While the probability approach will relate individual intakes to the distribution of requirements |
Baseline and endline |
| 2. Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) score of the parents who will be receiving nutrition education from Mitanins and AWW will be assessed during the baseline to endline |
Baseline and endline |
| 3. Dietary diversity score of adults (parents of children attending school/AWC will be measured using the 2 days 24-hour recall method to capture the number of food groups consumed |
Baseline and endline |
| 4. Environmental footprints of the revised menu as well as the standard Govt menu will be assessed using the secondary data on carbon footprints of the food commodities |
Endline |
|
|
Target Sample Size
|
Total Sample Size="2400" Sample Size from India="2400"
Final Enrollment numbers achieved (Total)= "Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials"
Final Enrollment numbers achieved (India)="Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials" |
|
Phase of Trial
|
N/A |
|
Date of First Enrollment (India)
|
21/10/2025 |
| Date of Study Completion (India) |
Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials |
| Date of First Enrollment (Global) |
Date Missing |
| Date of Study Completion (Global) |
Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials |
|
Estimated Duration of Trial
|
Years="1" Months="6" Days="0" |
|
Recruitment Status of Trial (Global)
|
Not Applicable |
| Recruitment Status of Trial (India) |
Not Yet Recruiting |
|
Publication Details
|
N/A |
|
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement
|
Will individual participant data (IPD) be shared publicly (including data dictionaries)?
Response - YES
- What data in particular will be shared?
Response (Others) - De-identified individual participant data underlying the trial results will be shared
- What additional supporting information will be shared?
Response - Study Protocol Response - Statistical Analysis Plan
- Who will be able to view these files?
Response (Others) - Researchers with a methodologically sound proposal approved by the trial steering committee
- For what types of analyses will this data be available?
Response - To achieve aims in the approved proposal.
- By what mechanism will data be made available?
Response - Proposals should be directed to [sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in].
- For how long will this data be available start date provided 01-03-2028 and end date provided 28-02-2031?
Response (Others) - Data will be available beginning 6 months after publication and up to 3 years thereafter
- Any URL or additional information regarding plan/policy for sharing IPD?
Additional Information - Data will be shared through secure transfer, and requestors will need to sign a data access agreement.
|
|
Brief Summary
|
Present study is a part of the NIHR Global Health Research Centre on Non-Communicable Diseases and Environmental Change which focuses on co-developing, implementing and evaluating a Food Systems intervention in selected district of Chhattisgarh, India. In the formative phase of the study, we explored components of Government institutional feeding programs for children, the local food environment at the household level, and dietary diversity among women of reproductive age in selected villages across two blocks of Surguja district, Chhattisgarh. This was followed by collating the study findings of the formative phase along with a proposed basket of interventions. Furthermore, a co-production phase where the basket of interventions was then presented to the program and community level stakeholders at village, block and district levels. Their insights and suggestions were utilised to make necessary modifications and develop a potentially implementable multicomponent intervention package. The package will utilize government institutional feeding program complemented with a supply of vegetables from the community managed nutri-gardens and nutrition education to diversify diets of children in selected villages of two blocks of Surguja district, Chhattisgarh with environmental co-benefits. This intervention package thus developed will be implemented and evaluated using a Quasi experimental field trial. The various components of the intervention package include: 1. Establishment and management of community-managed nutri-gardens to support the supply of fresh vegetables to schools and Anganwadi centres in specific areas across 2 blocks of Surguja district 2. Developing and implementing revised, diversified, seasonal cyclic menus for Schools and AWC utilizing culturally acceptable, local recipes using local produce. 3. Capacity building and enabling the schoolteachers, cooks and Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers, for managing the local supply chain and bulk preparation of the cyclic menu in the schools and AWCs using sound principles of food preparation for nutrient retention and food safety 4. Enhancing the competency of frontline workers and teachers in providing nutrition education on healthy eating, sustainable diets, and diets for the prevention of NCDs and management of noncommunicable diseases (on a need basis by frontline healthcare workers) to the program beneficiaries and the community in general to enhance healthy eating and dietary diversity at household level. |