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Program in International Nutrition and Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA
2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: khbrown{at}ucdavis.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
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KEY WORDS: diarrhea malnutrition infection dietary intake breastfeeding
It is personally very gratifying to be able to contribute to this symposium, which revisits the 1968 treatise by Scrimshaw, Taylor and Gordon entitled, "Interactions of Nutrition and Infection" (1
), because this publication had a major impact on my own thinking and career development. For individuals like me who were U.S. university students at the time, the year 1968 was notable for the growing distrust of the "military-industrial complex," the widespread resistance to the war in Vietnam, and the reawakened social concern for disenfranchised peoples, both in the United States and elsewhere. At the same time, Timothy Leary was counseling students and other members of the love generation to "turn on, tune in, and drop out" (2
); and the hippie movement was reaching its peak. As a graduating senior confronting these competing claims on my attention, and as the recipient of a lottery number from the U.S. Selective Service Board that all but ensured my inscription into the U.S. Army immediately after graduation unless other options were pursued, I chose instead to enroll in medical school until I could decide what I really wanted to do with my life. Because I had originally hoped to join the Peace Corps after finishing my undergraduate studies, once in medical school I began to explore opportunities for practicing medicine and/or conducting biomedical research in the developing world; and I soon discovered the series of publications by Scrimshaw, Gordon and colleagues on "weanling diarrhea" (3
) and the interactions between infection and nutrition (4
,5
). Thus began my personal and professional odyssey in quest of greater knowledge on these topics.
The comprehensive monograph "Interactions of Nutrition and Infection" stimulated many scientists to pursue further research on these issues, and in this presentation I will highlight some of the resulting studies on diarrhea and nutrition. In general, the research conducted on this topic since 1968 can be categorized in one of three major areas: 1) the impact of diarrhea on nutritional status, particularly in young children; 2) nutritional risk factors for diarrhea; and 3) appropriate dietary therapy for patients during and after enteric infections. Notably, the results of these studies prompted a number of changes in the clinical management of patients with diarrhea and in public health policies regarding its prevention. For lack of time, and because of my own personal interests and experience, my comments will focus primarily on epidemiological and clinical studies that were conducted in humans. I will not attempt to provide a comprehensive treatment of the literature; rather, I will highlight those studies that I believe have exerted the greatest influence on current thinking.
| Overview of diarrhea and nutrition |
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| Nutritional impact of diarrhea |
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30% during acute infections, whereas Brown et al. (11
Beginning in the 1980s, researchers started to explore factors that might modify the nutritional impact of diarrhea. Rowland et al. (13
) discovered that the previously observed diarrhea-induced growth deficit was absent in fully breastfed infants in an urban field site in West Africa, and they concluded that exclusive breastfeeding prevents the adverse nutritional consequences of diarrhea. Lutter et al. (14
) found that the usual diet also influenced the growth response to diarrhea in older children. Whereas the Colombian children in these studies who lived in control villages displayed the expected negative relationship between diarrheal prevalence and height at 3 y of age, there was no effect of diarrhea on the height of those children who lived in villages where food supplements were being distributed.
The most recent phase of research on this theme has begun to examine the effect of diarrhea on micronutrient balance and assessment of micronutrient status. For example, Castillo-Duran et al. (15
) assessed trace element balance during and after acute diarrhea, noting a negative balance of zinc during the early phase of illness.
| Nutritional risk factors for diarrhea |
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During this same period of time, investigators also described associations between anthropometric indicators of nutritional status and the duration of illness (18
), the severity of fecal purging (19
) and, most important, the case-fatality rates (20
). In each case, preexisting malnutrition was associated with an increased severity of diarrheal disease.
Infant feeding practices is another nutrition-related risk factor that received heightened attention during the period after 1968. Two important studies published from Latin America and Asia at the end of the 1980s found that exclusively breastfed infants had considerably reduced risks of diarrhea (and other infections) compared with infants who either received other foods or liquids along with breast milk or were fully weaned from the breast (21
,22
); and similar results have been published more recently from more industrialized settings (23
).
During the 1980s and 1990s researchers began to question whether deficiencies of specific micronutrients might also affect the risk of diarrhea. Studies were beginning to emerge that indicated that the risk of mortality was reduced in children who had received large doses of vitamin A (24
). Because most childhood deaths in low income settings are attributable to infection, it was reasonable to assume that this effect of vitamin A might be attributable to a reduced incidence of infections. Despite the apparent logic of this assumption, most studies of this relationship found no effect of vitamin A supplementation on the incidence of diarrhea (25
,26
). However, researchers in Ghana clarified this issue when they discovered that clinic visits and hospital admissions for diarrhea were decreased in vitamin A-supplemented children, even though diarrheal incidence rates remained unchanged (27
). Thus, it appeared that vitamin A reduced the severity of illness without affecting the overall attack rate.
More recently, several groups of investigators have pursued studies of the effect of zinc supplementation on the risk of diarrhea (28
,29
). These and other studies, which have been summarized in a recently published pooled analysis (30
), demonstrate an impressive reduction in diarrheal incidence of nearly 20% among zinc-supplemented children.
| Dietary management of patients with diarrhea |
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A number of studies were carried out during the period from 1968 to 1993 to determine whether substitution of lactose-free, milk-based diets for ones that contained lactose would modify the outcome of treatment of acute diarrhea. The results of these trials were inconsistent, although a meta-analysis that was conducted to reexamine them indicated that the rates of treatment failure were nearly twofold greater (22 vs. 12%) in the groups that received lactose-containing milk feeding (36
). However, the excess rate of treatment failure was confined to those studies that enrolled children with initial severe dehydration. Among the studies that enrolled children with mild or no dehydration, there was no difference in the treatment failure rates. The authors concluded that it is safe to manage the vast majority of children by using lactose-containing milk, especially if they have no clinical evidence of dehydration. Nevertheless, dehydrated children may benefit from reduced lactose intake and close supervision during the early phase of therapy.
As reviewed previously (41
), a number of studies completed during the 1980s and 1990s examined the use of mixed diets based on staple foods, and others assessed the effects of individual food components, such as dietary fiber and micronutrients, on the outcome of diarrhea. In general, children fared at least as well with mixed diets as they did with more highly processed formulas, and dietary fiber was found to reduce the duration of the period of liquid stool excretion (42
). With regard to micronutrients, studies were conducted to determine the impact of vitamin A and zinc. Little benefit of vitamin A was detected, except in nonbreastfed infants, in whom vitamin A reduced slightly the number of bowel movements and the duration of illness (43
). By contrast with this limited impact of vitamin A, all of the published studies of zinc supplementation during both acute and persistent diarrhea found significant reductions of about 20% in diarrheal duration (44
). More studies are currently under way to assess different combinations and dosages of multiple micronutrients on outcomes of diarrhea.
In summary, applied research published since 1968 has confirmed the deleterious effect of diarrhea on childrens nutritional status and has produced new evidence in support of revised approaches to prevent and treat these illnesses (Fig. 6
). In particular, promotion of breastfeeding to prevent diarrhea and reduce its nutritional complications, continued feeding during illness and supplementation with selected micronutrients, both to prevent enteric infections and to reduce their severity, are all important nutritional aspects in the control of diarrheal diseases and their associated nutritional complications.
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| FOOTNOTES |
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| LITERATURE CITED |
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1. Scrimshaw, N. S., Taylor, C. E. & Gordon, A.J.E. (1968) Interactions of Nutrition and Infection. WHO monograph series no. 57 1968 World Health Organization Geneva, Switzerland.
2. Leary, T. (1965) The Politics of Ecstasy 1965 Putnam New York, NY.
3. Gordon, J. E., Chitkara, I. D. & Wyon, J. B. (1963) Weanling diarrhea. Am. J. Med. Sci. 245:129-160.[Medline]
4. Scrimshaw, N. S., Guzman, M. A. & Gordon, J. E. (1967) Nutrition and infection field study in Guatemalan villages, 19591964. I. Study plan and experimental design. Arch. Environ. Health 14:657-662.[Medline]
5. Gordon, J. E., Ascoli, W., Mata, L. J., Guzman, M. A. & Scrimshaw, N. S. (1968) Nutrition and infection field study in Guatemalan villages, 19591964. VI. Acute diarrheal disease and nutritional disorders in general disease incidence. Arch. Environ. Health 16:424-437.[Medline]
6. Mata, L. J., Kronmal, R. A., Garcia, B., Butler, W., Urrutia, J. J. & Murillo, S. (1976) Breast-feeding, weaning and the diarrhoeal syndrome in a Guatemalan Indian village. Acute diarrhoea in childhood. Ciba Found. Symp. 42:311-338.
7. Martorell, R., Habicht, J.-P., Yarbrough, C., Lechtig, A., Klein, R. E. & Western, K. A. (1975) Acute morbidity and physical growth in rural Guatemala children. Am. J. Dis. Child. 129:1296-1301.[Abstract]
8. Rowland, M.G.M., Cole, T. J. & Whitehead, R. G. (1977) A quantitative study into the role of infection in determining nutritional status in Gambian village children. Br. J. Nutr. 37:441-450.[Medline]
9. Black, R. E., Brown, K. H. & Becker, S. (1984) Effects of diarrhea associated with specific enteropathogens on the growth of children in rural Bangladesh. Pediatrics 73:799-805.
10. Martorell, R., Yarbrough, C. & Klein, R. E. (1980) The impact of ordinary illnesses on the dietray intakes of malnourished children. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 33:345-350.
11. Brown, K. H., Black, R. E., Robertson, A. D. & Becker, S. (1985) Effects of season and illness on the dietary intake of weanlings during longitudinal studies in rural Bangladesh. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 41:343-355.
12. Brown, K. H., Stallings, R. Y., Creed de Kanashiro, H., Lopez de Romaña, G. & Black, R. E. (1990) Effects of common illnesses on infants energy intakes from breast milk and other foods during longitudinal community-based studies in Huascar (Lima), Peru. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 52:1005-1013.
13. Rowland, M.G.M., Rowland, S.G.J.G. & Cole, T. J. (1988) Impact of infection on the growth of children from 0 to 2 years in an urban West African community. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 47:134-138.
14. Lutter, C. K., Mora, J. O., Habicht, J.-P., Rasmussen, K. M., Robson, D. S. & Sellers, S. G. (1989) Nutritional supplementation: effects on child stunting associated with diarrhea. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 50:1-8.
15. Castillo-Duran, C., Vial, P. & Uauy, R. (1988) Trace mineral balance during acute diarrhea in infants. J. Pediatr. 113:452-457.[Medline]
16. James, J. W. (1972) Longitudinal study of the morbidity of diarrheal and respiratory infections in malnourished children. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 25:690-694.[Medline]
17. Sepulveda, J., Willett, W. & Munoz, A. (1988) Malnutrition and diarrhea: a longitudinal study among urban Mexican children. Am. J. Epidemiol. 127:365-376.
18. Black, R. E., Brown, K. H. & Becker, S. (1984) Malnutrition is a determining factor in diarrheal duration, but not incidence, among young children in a longitudinal study in rural Bangladesh. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 39:87-94.
19. Palmer, D. L., Koster, F. T., Alam, A.K.M.J. & Islam, M. R. (1976) Nutritional status: a determinant of severity of diarrhea in patients with cholera. J. Infect. Dis. 134:8-14.[Medline]
20. Samadi, A., Chowdhury, A. I., Huq, M. I. & Shahid, N. S. (1985) Risk factors for death in complicated diarrhoea of children. Br. Med. J. 290:1615-1617.
21. Brown, K. H., Black, R. E., Lopez de Romaña, G. & Kanashiro, H. C. (1989) Infant-feeding practices and their relationship with diarrheal and other diseases in Huascar (Lima), Peru. Pediatrics 83:31-40.
22. Popkin, B. M., Adair, L., Akin, J. S., Black, R., Briscoe, J. & Flieger, W. (1990) Breast-feeding and diarrheal morbidity. Pediatrics 86:874-882.
23. Kramer, M. S., Chalmers, B., Hodnett, E. D., Sevkovskaya, Z., Dzikovich, I., Shapiro, S., Collet, J. P., Vanilovich, I., Mezen, I., Ducruet, T., Shishko, G., Zubovich, V., Mknuik, D., Gluchanina, E., Dombrovskiy, V., Ustinovitch, A., Kot, T., Bogdanovich, N., Ovchinikova, L. & Helsing, E., PROBIT Study Group (Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial) (2001) Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial (PROBIT): a randomized trial in the Republic of Belarus. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 285:413-412.
24. Sommer, A., Tarwotjo, I., Djunaedi, E., West, K. P., Jr, Loeden, A. A., Tilden, R. & Mele, L., Aceh Study Group (1986) Impact of vitamin A supplementation on childhood mortality. A randomised controlled community trial. Lancet 1:1169-1173.[Medline]
25. Rahmathullah, L., Underwood, B. A., Thulasiraj, R. D. & Milton, R. C. (1991) Diarrhea, respiratory infections, and growth are not affected by a weekly low-dose vitamin A supplement: a masked, controlled field trial in children in southern India. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 54:568-577.
26. Dibley, M. J., Sadjimin, T., Kjolhede, C. L. & Moulton, L. H. (1996) Vitamin A supplementation fails to reduce incidence of acute respiratory illness and diarrhea in preschool-age Indonesian children. J. Nutr. 126:434-442.
27. Ghana VAST Study Team (1993) Vitamin A supplementation in northern Ghana: effects on clinic attendances, hospital admissions, and child mortality. Lancet 342:7-12.[Medline]
28. Sazawal, S., Black, R. E., Bhan, M. K., Jalla, S., Sinha, A. & Bhandari, N. (1997) Efficacy of zinc supplementation in reducing the incidence and prevalence of acute diarrheaa community-based, double-blind, controlled trial. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 66:413-418.
29. Ruel, M. T., Rivera, J. A., Santizo, M.-C., Lönnerdal, B. & Brown, K. H. (1997) Impact of zinc supplementation on morbidity from diarrhea and respiratory infections among rural Guatemalan children. Pediatrics 99:808-813.
30. Zinc Investigators Collaborative GroupBhutta, Z. A., Black, R. E., Brown, K. H., Meeks-Gardner, J., Gorem, S., Hidayat, A., Khatun, F., Martorell, R., Ninh, N. X., Penny, M. E., Rosado, J. L., Roy, S. K., Ruel, M., Sazawal, S. & Shankar, A. (1999) Prevention of diarrhea and pneumonia by zinc supplementation in children in developing countries: pooled analysis of randomized controlled trials. J. Pediatr. 135:689-697.[Medline]
31. Chung, A. W. & Viscorova, B. (1948) The effect of early oral feeding versus early oral starvation on the course of infantile diarrhea. J. Pediatr. 33:14-22.
32. Arena, J. M. (1969) Davisons Compleat Pediatrician 9th ed. 1969 Lea & Febiger Philadelphia, PA.
33. Forfar, J. O. & Arneil, G. C. (1973) Textbook of Paediatrics 1973 Churchill Livingstone Edinburgh, UK.
34. Committee on Nutrition, American Academy of Pediatrics (1979) Pediatric Nutrition Handbook 3rd ed. 1979 American Academy of Pediatrics Elk Grove Village, IL.
35. Brown, K. H., Gastañaduy, A. S., Saavedra, J. M., Lembcke, J., Rivas, D., Robertson, A. D., Yolken, R. & Sack, R. B. (1988) Effect of continued oral feeding on clinical and nutritional outcomes of acute diarrhea in children. J. Pediatr. 112:191-200.[Medline]
36. Sadhu, B. K., Isolauri, E., Walker-Smith, J. A., Banchini, G., Van Caillie-Bertrand, M., Dias, J. A., Guandalini, S., Hoekstra, J. H., Juntunen, M., Kolacek, S., Marx, D., Micetic-Turk, D., Razenberg, M.C.A.C., Szajewska, H., Tarminiau, J., Weizman, Z., Zanacca, C. & Zetterstrom, R. (1997) Early feeding in childhood gastroenteritis. J. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. Nutr. 24:522-527.[Medline]
37. Committee on Nutrition, American Academy of Pediatrics (1998) Pediatric Nutrition Handbook 4th ed. 1998 American Academy of Pediatrics Elk Grove Village, IL.
38. Sutton, R. E. & Hamilton, J. R. (1968) Tolerance of young children with severe gastroenteritis to dietary lactose: a controlled study. Can. Med. Assoc. J. 99:980-982.[Medline]
39. Chew, F., Penna, F. J., Peret Filho, L. A., Quan, C., Lopes, M. C., Mota, J. A. & Fontaine, O. (1993) Is dilution of cows milk formula necessary for dietary management of acute diarrhoea in infants aged less than 6 months?. Lancet 341:194-197.[Medline]
40. Brown, K. H., Peerson, J. M. & Fontaine, O. (1994) Use of nonhuman milks in the dietary management of young children with acute diarrhea: a meta-analysis of clinical trials. Pediatrics 93:17-27.
41. Brown, K. H. (1994) Dietary management of acute diarrheal disease: contemporary scientific issues. J. Nutr. 124:1455S-1460S.
42. Brown, K. H., Perez, F., Peerson, J. M., Fadel, J., Brunsgaard, G., Ostrom, K. M. & MacLean, W. C., Jr (1993) Effect of dietary fiber (soy polysaccharide) on the severity, duration, and nutritional outcome of acute, watery diarrhea in children. Pediatrics 92:241-247.
43. Bhandari, N., Bahl, R., Sazawal, S. & Bhan, M. K. (1997) Breast-feeding status alters the effect of vitamin A treatment during acute diarrhea in children. J. Nutr. 127:59-63.
44. Zinc Investigators Collaborative GroupBhutta, Z. A., Bird, S. M., Black, R. E., Brown, K. H., Gardner, J. M., Hidayat, A., Khatun, F., Martorell, R., Ninh, N. X., Penny, M. E., Rosado, J. L., Roy, S. K., Ruel, M., Sazawal, S. & Shankar, A. (2000) Therapeutic effects of oral zinc in acute and persistent diarrhea in children in developing countries: pooled analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 72:1516-1522.
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