I thought I'd stick to the 'specialist press' today, after posting from 'Fire / Rescue News' yesterday. (BTW - that story, about baby Onur, was just covered on CNN's evening show, Anderson Cooper 360 - with the same photo! You heard it on RTBH first, people...!!)
So today's story comes from 'Medical News Today'. It's based on a newly released study from Burkina Faso, which suggests that a simple Vitamin A and Zinc supplement may help protect children against malaria. The study found that children receiving the supplement were significantly less likely to develop malaria than those receiving a placebo, and if they did develop malaria their illness was less severe. Of course, the finding is more wide-ranging than that, illustrating clearly the importance of nutrition in boosting the immune system. Common sense, really. For all today's attempts to find the 'next magic bullet' in health and development, what people need first is food and water... now we have some scientific evidence that shows just how important this is to reducing the infectious disease burden. It reminds me somewhat of that old English adage: 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'...
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
118: vitamin and mineral supplements guard against malaria
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3 comments:
Great to see some empirical evidence for this.
And, coincidentally, I was discussing nutritional suppliments with someone today before I saw this! In the context of a remote, mountainous region of south Asia, where it's been very cold for many weeks - well below freezing at night - and several vulnerable people have died of the cold. The people have terrible diets! Not through choice or ignorance, but because it's extremely difficult to get fresh fruit and vegetables etc in those places at that time of year. No wonder so many of them find it hard to function (and a few die). With transport problems, sending in vitamin suppliments may be (part of) the answer.
In a wider picture, I wonder if WFP or the WHO could endorse a general multi-vitamin or similar for such cases. As this news story says, malnutrition is much more widespread than is commonly perceived, and has a serious impact on development and progress in these places.
Interesting, Diana - thanks.
Where are you now then?
(I think I know, because my Analytics tell me - but others won't!!)
The WFP or WHO endorsement - or provision - point is definitely worth debating. I suspect they will say we need to be careful about overdosing people with Vitamin A etc - Vitamin A drops are already given to children in many countries / places to guard against problems with vision etc. Too much can be toxic, cause renal failure etc.
On the other hand, Zinc is harder to overdose on, and it has already been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of other diseases - such as cholera - because of its effect on the immune system. And iodine in salt is very common... so there are precedents.
The answer is probably for much more attention to be given to the fundamentals of good nutrition, and giving poorer communities and families more support to maintain a healthy diet - which might include provision of free supplements in the dry / wet / cold seasons when it's harder to get the right foods. If programmes are co-ordinated properly, there should be little risk of overdosing on certain vitamins - though, to be honest, that is quite a big IF in some places...
Interestingly, the Minister of Health in Ghana (a military man by training) is going all out on promoting not only nutrition but rest and recreation - i.e. preventive medicine. Sounds a lot like recent messages in the UK - about the National Health Service being just that (i.e. a health service, not a sickness service). The US would do well to follow suit!
E
Thanks Eazibee!
Writing from Lashkah Gar, which is in South West Afghanistan, where the desert plain meets the mountains. It's beautiful, but you're forever reminded of the might of nature.
Would it be possible for this suppliment to miss out any vitamins on which people could overdose, like vitamin A? (Or can you overdose on any of them?)
Also, I wonder whether there's an environmental angle to this - is providing suppliments easier on natural resources as well as being more egalitarian in terms of the nutrition people receive?
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