Vitamin D supplements in malnourished children helped in weight gain, development
Vitamin D supplements improve weight gain and also add to the language and motor skills of malnourished children.
Vitamin D – the ‘sunshine vitamin’ – is well known for its beneficial effects on bone and muscle health. According to a study led by University of the Punjab, Pakistan, and Queen Mary University of London, it could be a wonder supplement to tackle malnutrition. The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition took place in Pakistan. An estimated 1.4 million children in Pakistan live with severe acute malnutrition.
Forty three per cent of Indian children under five years are underweight and 48 per cent (i.e. 61 million children) are stunted due to chronic undernutrition, India accounts for more than 3 out of every 10 stunted children in the world
In India the figures are even more dismal. As per UNICEF data, in India 20 per cent of children under five years of age suffer from wasting due to acute undernutrition. More than one third of the world’s children who are wasted live in India. Forty three per cent of Indian children under five years are underweight and 48 per cent (i.e. 61 million children) are stunted due to chronic undernutrition, India accounts for more than 3 out of every 10 stunted children in the world.
Lead author of the Vit D study, Dr Javeria Saleem from University of the Punjab and Queen Mary University of London said: “High-dose vitamin D significantly boosted weight gain in malnourished children. This could be a game-changer in the management of severe acute malnutrition, which affects 20 million children worldwide.”
Senior author Professor Adrian Martineau from Queen Mary University of London added: “This is the first clinical trial in humans to show that vitamin D can affect brain development, lending weight to the idea that vitamin D has important effects on the central nervous system. Further trials in other settings are now needed to see whether our findings can be reproduced elsewhere. We are also planning a larger trial in Pakistan to investigate whether high-dose vitamin D could reduce mortality in children with severe malnutrition.”
High energy food sachets are the standard treatment for the condition, but they contain relatively modest amounts of vitamin D. Food items that contain vitamin D include fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon, beef liver, cheese and egg yolks. It is also synthesised in the body when there is enough exposure to sunlight.
In the study, 185 severely malnourished children aged 6-58 months were treated with an eight-week course of high energy food sachets, and were also randomised to either receive additional high-dose vitamin D (two doses of 200,000 international units / 5 milligrams, given by mouth) or placebo.
After eight weeks, vitamin D supplementation led to clinically significant improvements in weight (on average gaining an extra 0.26 kg compared to the control group).
Vitamin D supplementation also resulted in substantial reductions in the proportion of children with delayed motor development, delayed language development and delayed global development (reaching certain milestones such as learning to walk or talk).
Senior author Dr Rubeena Zakar from University of the Punjab added: “Our findings could be a great help to the Health Ministry of Pakistan in dealing with the issue of malnutrition.”
The study was funded by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
