Zinc

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Study examines impact of zinc supplementation in region

where malaria is prevalent

Sunday, March 18, 2007

A clinical trial concluded that daily zinc supplements reduced the risk

of death among children aged 12 to 48 months by 18 percent.

A clinical trial conducted by researchers at the s Hopkins Bloomberg

School of Public concluded that daily zinc supplements reduced the risk

of death among children aged 12 to 48 months by 18 percent. However, the

researchers did not find any significant reduction in mortality among

children 1 to11 months of age. The study is published in the March 17,

2007, edition of The Lancet.

Zinc is one of the most plentiful trace elements in the body, second only

to iron. It mediates many physiological functions and is believed to be

essential for maintaining a healthy immune system. The trial examined

whether zinc supplementation would benefit children living in areas where

malaria is prevalent. Pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria account for 45

percent of the 10 million child deaths worldwide each year.

" This large trial demonstrates that the benefits of zinc

supplementation include mortality reduction in addition to the reduction

in cases of pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria that we found in previous

trials, " said Black, MD, the study's senior author and

professor and chair of the Bloomberg School's Department of International

Health.

The double-blind trial involved 42,546 children living in Pemba,

Zanzibar. Half of the children were randomly selected by household to

receive daily zinc supplements, while the other half were given a

placebo. Overall, the study found a 7 percent reduction in the risk of

mortality with zinc supplementation, which was statistically

insignificant, and a statistically significant 18 percent reduction in

mortality in children aged 12 to 48 months. According to the Hopkins

researchers, the interaction between zinc effects and age is consistent

with the results of other studies.

They said it is possible that infants acquire sufficient amounts of zinc

in utero and through breast feeding to sustain them during the first year

of life. The failure to find an effect in infants could also be a result

of the lower doses of zinc given to infants compared to the higher doses

given to older children. In the trial, infants given zinc received a 5mg

dose while children aged 12 months and older received a 10mg dose.

" While further work is needed to evaluate higher dose effects,

recommendations for use of zinc as a preventive strategy needs to

consider the collective evidence of the effect on growth, morbidity and

mortality, which would suggest benefit in children age 6 months and

up, " said the study's lead author, Sunil Sazawal, PhD, associate

professor in the Department of International Health.

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Additional authors of the study include Mahdi Ramsan, Hababu M. Chwaya,

Arup Dutta, Usha Dhingra, J. Stoltzfus, Mashavi K. Othman and

Fatma M. Kabole.

The research was supported by grants from the World Health Organization

Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development; the United

Nations Foundation; United States Agency for International Development;

and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

SOURCE: Medical News

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