Bangladesh’s gut-healing food for malnourished children among Time’s Best Inventions of 2025

Developed through a long-standing collaboration between icddr,b and Washington University in St. Louis, MDCF-2 has shown promising results in improving growth and immune recovery among malnourished children. - The Daily Star/ANN

DHAKA: Microbiota-Directed Complementary Food (MDCF-2) is an affordable food formulation that repairs gut microbiomes to treat malnutrition, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr’b) said in a press release issued Thursday (Oct 9).

MDCF-2 contains a precise mix of chickpea flour, soybean flour, peanut flour and green banana. These ingredients were selected for their ability to nourish specific beneficial gut bacteria that support healthy growth, immune function and neurodevelopment in children affected by malnutrition.