Zinc supplements, reduced disease related in developing countries

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Zinc supplements, reduced disease related in developing countries

Zinc reduces pneumonia by 41% and diarrhea by up to 25% in children younger

than 5 years old.

[international trials][Zinc protects against pneumonia]

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January 2000

BALTIMORE - Giving zinc supplements to young children in developing

countries reduces pneumonia by 41% and diarrhea by up to 25%, according to

recent studies.

E. Black, MD, MPH, and Sunil Sazawal, MBBS, MPH, of the s Hopkins

School of Public Health, on behalf of the Zinc Investigators' Collaborative

Group, analyzed original data from published and unpublished trials. Seven

continuous and three short-course studies of zinc supplementation were

included in the two sets of pooled analyses. The continuous trials provided

1 to 2 times the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of elemental zinc five to

seven times per week throughout the study. Five of the continuous

supplementation trials included persistent diarrhea and three included

dysentery.

The three short-course trials provided 2 to 4 times the RDA daily for two

weeks during an episode of acute or persistent diarrhea. These were followed

by two to three months of morbidity surveillance. The trials primarily

occurred in apparently healthy children. However, two trials did recruit

children who had recently recovered from diarrheal disease and two others

looked at children with growth retardation.

International trials

The 10 international trials studied more than 900 children younger than 5

years of age and showed a strong link between dietary zinc supplementation

and reductions in pneumonia incidence and diarrhea, the researchers said.

The analysis was published recently in the Journal of Pediatrics.

No significant variations were seen in the effects of zinc in subgroups of

children stratified by age, gender and weight. Likewise, no significant

variations were detected between short-course zinc supplementation and

continuous, or long-term supplementation.

Zinc protects against pneumonia

The effect of zinc supplementation on the prevention of diarrhea compared

favorably with other interventions such as clean water and sanitation or

breast-feeding, but zinc had a greater preventive effect for pneumonia than

any other current intervention. Zinc supplementation can now be incorporated

into child health programs to help reduce deaths from these diseases, the

researchers said.

Pneumonia and diarrhea claim the lives of millions of children each year,

primarily in the developing world. Cells with a rapid rate of turnover,

notably those in the immune and gastrointestinal systems, are most

vulnerable to the effects of zinc deficiency. This study was funded by

USAID's Child Health Research Project.

For more information:

Bhutta ZA, Black RE, Brown KH, et. al. Prevention of diarrhea and pneumonia

by zinc supplementation in children in developing countries: pooled analysis

of randomized, controlled trials. J Pediatr.1999;135:689-97.

Bahl R, Bhandari N. Hambidge KM, et. al. Plasma zinc as a predictor of

diarrheal and respiratory morbidity in children in an urban slum setting. Am

J Clin Nutr. 1998; 68(suppl):414S-7S.