A complementary food for undernourished children developed in Bangladesh has been named among TIME magazine鈥檚 Best Inventions of 2025.
The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, ICDDR,B in short, and Washington University in St Louis in the United States jointly developed the MDCF-2.聽
The complementary food has been developed through a collaboration between ICDDR,B executive director Dr Tahmeed Ahmed and Washington University scientist Dr Jeffrey Gordon.
The MDCF-2 that stands for microbiome-directed complementary food is a formulation designed to restore healthy gut microbiota in malnourished children and improve their growth, immunity and brain development, said an ICDDR,B press release on October 10.
The Time magazine recognises it under the 鈥榮ocial impact鈥� category for its potential to transform how the world tackles child malnutrition.
The homegrown scientific breakthrough offers new hope for millions of undernourished children worldwide who are at risk of stunting (low height-for-age) and wasting (low weight-for-height).
MDCF-2 is made from a measured mix of chickpea flour, soybean flour, peanut flour, and green banana, ingredients that are good for beneficial gut bacteria that are crucial for recovery from under nutrition.
Saying that the Time recognition was 鈥榲ery encouraging鈥�, Dr Tahmeed Ahmed stated, 鈥業t shows how science and compassion can come together to address one of the most persistent global health challenges.鈥�
鈥極ur decades-long research indicated the gut microbiome plays a central role in how children grow and respond to nutrition,鈥� said Dr Jeffrey Gordon, director of the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at Washington University.
The collaboration between Dr Gordon and ICDDR,B executive director Dr Tahmeed Ahmed reflects years of joint research linking microbiome science with practical nutritional solutions suited for low-resource settings.
Following promising results in Bangladesh, large-scale studies of MDCF-2 were now underway in India, Pakistan, Mali and Tanzania, said the release, adding that experts said the innovation could prompt a major shift in how international agencies and governments address childhood malnutrition.
This year鈥檚 TIME list features 300 innovations recognised for 鈥榗hanging the way we live, work, and care for one another,鈥� according to the release.