Supplementing with zinc, vitamin A and micronutrients for children with diarrhea

Diarrhea is a common childhood disease, with a high incidence and every year around the world millions of children die from this disease. Some information suggests that supplementing with vitamin A and zinc in the treatment of diarrhea will help children recover faster.

According to health experts, zinc deficiency is closely associated with diarrhea in children. Zinc is an important micronutrient, indispensable for human health. Some studies have proven that in our country, about 30-40% of children under 1 year of age have zinc deficiency.
Some of the good mechanisms of zinc's effects on the body include:
Zinc increases immunity, helping the body to better fight pathogens. Zinc helps the digestive organs to develop, contributing to the re-establishment of normal intestinal absorption, which is disturbed during diarrhea. Zinc also works to increase appetite in malnourished children, anorexia... Therefore, zinc supplementation in the treatment of diarrhea in children is essential. In fact, zinc supplementation for children under 6 months with a dose of 10mg/day and children from 6 months to 5 years old is 20mg/day, continuously for 10-14 days into the diarrhea treatment regimen, resulting In combination with low osmolarity ORS, it is very effective and reduces the severity of diarrhea.
In addition, zinc also helps children to improve their nutritional status early and recover quickly.
The results of the studies have all proven, when patients use zinc to treat diarrhea, it will help reduce the amount of water in the stool, reduce the number of bowel movements, reduce the severity and reduce the duration of the diarrhea. disease compared with children with diarrhea who did not receive zinc supplementation.
In prophylactic treatment, adequate zinc supplementation also reduces the incidence of diarrhea. Therefore, the treatment of diarrhea in children is necessary to supplement zinc. In addition, the doctor can coordinate with the child supplement with vitamins of group B, vitamin A ... to help increase the effectiveness of diarrhea treatment.
Zinc plays a very important role in the treatment of diarrhea in children. To avoid zinc deficiency, you should give your child a variety of foods. Attention, you should give your child food of animal origin (oysters, mussels, mussels, chicken...); Take supplements of zinc-containing products as directed by your doctor when your child shows signs of zinc deficiency.

A study was performed with the objective to compare the clinical efficacy of zinc, zinc plus vitamin A supplementation and zinc combined with micronutrients and vitamins (iron, copper, selenium, vitamin B12, folate). , vitamin A) in the treatment of acute diarrhea in children.
This is a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The trial was conducted in children 6 to 24 months of age with diarrhea and moderate dehydration who were randomly assigned to receive zinc plus vitamin A supplementation, placebo (group 1), zinc plus micronutrients. other nutritional supplements plus vitamin A (group 2), zinc and vitamin A (group 3) or placebo (group 4) as an adjunct to oral rehydration solution.
Duration, severity of diarrhea and oral rehydration solution consumption were compared as outcome variables in the supplemented group and with the placebo group.
The test results showed that there were 167 research subjects, including 41 children in group 1, 39 children in group 2, 44 children in group 3 and 43 children in group 4. All 3 supplemented groups showed an improvement. There was a significant reduction in the duration and severity of diarrhea and oral rehydration fluid consumption compared with the placebo group.
Group 3 had the lowest reduction of outcome variables and group 2 had a rapid recovery, but the difference between the added groups was not statistically significant.
Thus, supplementation with a combination of micronutrients and vitamins was not superior to zinc alone, confirming the clinical benefit of zinc in children with diarrhea.
In particular, symptom improvement can take place for a long time, so it is recommended that parents be calm and persistent when supplementing with nutrients, including through food or functional foods. In particular, the use of functional foods should choose those of natural origin that are easily absorbed, do not allow simultaneous use of many types or continuously change the types of functional foods.
In addition, in order to prevent diseases that babies often get, parents should pay attention to nutrition to improve children's resistance. At the same time, add supporting foods containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, B vitamins,... snacks and less digestive problems.
Parents can learn more:
Why do you need to supplement Lysine for your baby?
The role of zinc - Guidelines for reasonable zinc supplementation
Please visit the website Vinmec.com regularly and update useful information to take care of your baby and family.

Reference source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov