pica and Growth-Disorders

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Body Height; Body Weight; Child; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Child, Preschool; Deficiency Diseases; Diet; Emaciation; Female; Growth Disorders; Humans; Infant; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Infant, Newborn; Male; Middle Aged; Nutrition Surveys; Nutritional Requirements; Pica; Pregnancy; Puerto Rico; Socioeconomic Factors; United States; West Indies

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anthropometric characteristics and both geophagy and cognitive function of children.. The study prospectively followed singleton children whose mothers participated in the MiPPAD clinical trial in Allada, Benin, from birth to age 12 months. Anthropometric measurements were taken at birth and 9 and 12 months. Wasting, stunting and underweight were defined as weight-for-length, length-for-age and weight-for-age Z-scores less than -2, respectively. Cognitive and motor functions were assessed using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Parent-reported geophageous habits of children were collected when the children were 12 months. Multiple linear and logistic regressions were used to analyse the data.. A total of 632 children (49.7% girls) were involved in the study. Stunting, wasting and underweight were observed in 14.1%, 13.6% and 17.7%, respectively, at 9 months and 17.3%, 12.7% and 17.2%, respectively, at 12 months. The prevalence of geophagy among the children was 48.2%. Impaired growth at 9 and 12 months was consistently associated with low cognitive and gross motor (GM) score. Children stunted at 9 months had lower GM scores at 12 months compared with their non-stunted peers (β = -3.48, 95% confidence interval -6.62 to -0.35).. Stunting, wasting and underweight are associated with cognitive and GM deficits in infants. In this setting, impaired growth was not associated with geophagy. Further research evaluating geophagy and growth prospectively and concurrently from birth to 36 months is needed.

Topics: Cachexia; Cognition; Female; Growth Disorders; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Pica; Pregnancy; Prevalence; Prospective Studies; Thinness

There is a growing body of literature indicating an association between stunting and environmental enteropathy (EE), a disorder thought to be caused by repeated exposures to enteric pathogens. To investigate the relationship between exposure to enteric pathogens through geophagy, consumption of soil, EE, and stunting, we conducted a prospective cohort study of 216 children under 5 years of age in rural Bangladesh. Geophagy was assessed at baseline using 5 hour structured observation and caregiver reports. Stool was analyzed for fecal markers of intestinal inflammation: alpha-1-antitrypsin, myeloperoxidase, neopterin (all three combined to form an EE disease activity score), and calprotectin. Eighteen percent of children had observed geophagy events by structured observation and 28% had caregiver reported events in the past week. Nearly all households had Escherichia coli (97%) in soil, and 14% had diarrheagenic E. coli. Children with caregiver-reported geophagy had significantly higher EE scores (0.72 point difference, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.01, 1.42) and calprotectin concentrations (237.38 μg/g, 95% CI: 12.77, 462.00). Furthermore, at the 9-month follow-up the odds of being stunted (height-for-age z-score < -2) was double for children with caregiver-reported geophagy (odds ratio [OR]: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.14, 4.51). These findings suggest that geophagy in young children may be an important unrecognized risk factor for EE and stunting.

Topics: Bangladesh; Child, Preschool; Escherichia coli; Feces; Female; Growth Disorders; Humans; Infant; Intestinal Diseases; Male; Pica; Prospective Studies; Rural Population; Soil; Soil Microbiology

Topics: Child; Growth Disorders; Humans; Institutionalization; Intellectual Disability; Male; Mother-Child Relations; Pica

Topics: Anemia, Hypochromic; Child; Geological Phenomena; Geology; Growth Disorders; Humans; Male; Nutrition Disorders; Pica; Zinc

Zinc concentrations in plasma and hair were measured in 703 children, aged between 1 and 6 yr, and correlated with parameters of physical development. In the first group of 187 children brought to the Child Health Clinic for routine observation there was a positive correlation of hair zinc content and height for age, with an increased prevalence of low hair zinc content in children of shorter stature. A second group of 303 children in nurseries and kindergartens in Beijing exhibited a hair zinc content of 92 micrograms/g, and 34% of these had very low zinc values below 70 micrograms/g. The third group consisted of 213 children who were brought into the outpatient clinic for a variety of complaints, including pica, anorexia, and poor growth; these had significantly lower values of zinc in hair and plasma than well-nourished children and responded to zinc supplementation with improvement of growth and the disappearance of pica and anorexia. These results suggest that the diet consumed by the population studied may be marginal or inadequate in its content of available zinc.

Topics: Anorexia; Child, Preschool; China; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Female; Growth; Growth Disorders; Hair; Humans; Infant; Male; Pica; Sulfates; Zinc; Zinc Sulfate

Topics: Child, Preschool; Deficiency Diseases; Female; Growth Disorders; Hair; Humans; Pica; Zinc

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Anemia, Hypochromic; Blood Proteins; Body Height; Body Weight; Edema; Female; Growth Disorders; Helminthiasis; Hemoglobinometry; Hepatomegaly; Humans; Infections; Iran; Male; Nutrition Disorders; Pica; Protein Deficiency; School Health Services; Serum Albumin; Serum Globulins; Soil; Splenomegaly; Zinc