During the Hot Topics Seminar Dr. Patricia Wolff, clinical professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine and head of Med & Food for Kids (MFK), discussed a life saving peanut butter medicine for malnourished children in Haiti. The MFK is saving lives of toddlers in Haiti with an innovative mixture of peanuts, powdered milk, sugar, oil, vitamins and minerals. This product is called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and needs no cooking or preparation time. The best part of this product is that toddlers can eat RUTF at home. This allows families to help their children at home instead of having to wait in the hospital. Malnutrition is typically treated at hospitals and feeding centers. It is difficult for parents struggling to feed themselves to commit to the lengthy program available at hospitals, and many families drop out. The home based RUTF can rapidly put weight on a child and costs less than hospitalization and decreases child mortality rates. In fact the product leads to recovery rates that often exceed 85%. The RUTF product is produced right in Haiti under the brand name, Medika Mamba (Haitian Creole for “Peanut Butter Medicine”). Since 2003, MFK has offered the hope of recovery to thousands of malnourished children.  Check out the Meds for Kids Web site.