Diarrhea prevalence on days 3 , 5 , and 7 was lower in the zinc group .
The incidence of vomiting was significantly greater in the group that received zinc than in the control group .
CONCLUSIONS Oral zinc supplementation significantly decreases diarrhea duration and has a greater effect on malnourished children .
OBJECTIVE To up date the available evidence about zinc use for treating diarrhea in children and to assess its effect on the malnourished population , a subgroup that has not been fully explored in previous analyses .
Impact of zinc supplementation in children with acute diarrhoea in Turkey
Objective : Zinc deficiency is prevalent in children in developing countries . Supplemental zinc provides therapeutic benefits in diarrhoea . Our aim was to evaluate the effect of daily zinc supplementation for 14 days on diarrhoea duration , severity , and morbidity in children . Methods : In a r and omised , open label non-placebo controlled trial , we assessed the efficacy of providing zinc sulfate to 6–60 month old children with acute diarrhoea for 2 weeks followed by 3 months of morbidity surveillance . Children were r and omly assigned to zinc ( n = 150 ) and control ( n = 130 ) groups and received 15–30 mg elemental zinc daily . Results : Supplemented children had significantly improved plasma zinc levels by day 14 of therapy . Zinc deficiency was observed in 2.6 % of the treatment and 3.3 % of the control group . The mean duration of diarrhoea after starting supplementation was 3.02±2 days in the zinc group and 3.67±3.2 days in the control group . There was no significant difference in diarrhoea duration by treatment group ( p>0.05 ) . The number of stools after starting supplementation was 5.8±3.7 and 5.1±3.9 on day 1 , 2.9±1.6 and 3.0±2.2 on day 2 , and 1.8±1.1 and 1.6±0.9 on day 3 in the zinc and control groups , respectively . There was no significant difference in diarrhoea severity by treatment group ( p>0.05 ) . No significant effect was found on the incidence and prevalence of diarrhoea in the zinc compared with the control group . Conclusion : Our data indicate that supplementing children with acute diarrhoea in Turkey with 3 RDA of elemental zinc for 14 days improved neither diarrhoea duration nor severity despite significant increments in plasma zinc
Diarrhea prevalence on days 3 , 5 , and 7 was lower in the zinc group .
The incidence of vomiting was significantly greater in the group that received zinc than in the control group .
CONCLUSIONS Oral zinc supplementation significantly decreases diarrhea duration and has a greater effect on malnourished children .
OBJECTIVE To up date the available evidence about zinc use for treating diarrhea in children and to assess its effect on the malnourished population , a subgroup that has not been fully explored in previous analyses .