Food and counseling support for healthy pregnancies and babies in Guatemala

This trial, called K'ASLEM (meaning "life" in the Kaqchikel Mayan language), is testing whether a combination of food support and monthly counseling visits can help pregnant women and their babies stay healthy. The study focuses on pregnant women and their families in Indigenous Maya communities in Guatemala, where both maternal obesity and child malnutrition are serious problems. Researchers will follow mothers and babies for 12 months after birth to see whether this integrated support improves maternal weight and infant growth.

Guatemala's Indigenous communities face a unique challenge called the "double burden of malnutrition"—some people are overweight while others are undernourished, and both problems affect health outcomes for mothers and babies. This trial exists to test whether combining nutritious food with personalized counseling can address both problems at once and improve the health of vulnerable families who often don't have access to these resources.