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 .
ORS Containing Zinc Does Not Reduce Duration or Stool Volume of Acute Diarrhea in Hospitalized Children
Background and Aim : The World Health Organization recommends oral zinc ( tablets or syrups ) as adjunct therapy with oral rehydration solution ( ORS ) for acute childhood diarrhea . Mixing zinc with ORS can be an attractive approach for simultaneous provision of these 2 effective interventions . This double-masked r and omized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of ORS containing 40 mg/L elemental zinc per liter ( zinc-ORS ) in reducing stool weight and duration of diarrhea . Patients and Methods : Five hundred northern Indian children ages 1 to 35 months with diarrhea < 7 days ’ duration were r and omized to zinc-ORS or ORS . The primary outcomes were total stool output and time to recovery . Results : The median total stool output was 2.12 g · kg−1 · h−1 ( interquartile range [ IQR ] 0.9–3.76 ) in the zinc-ORS group compared with 1.78 g · kg−1 · h−1 ( IQR 0.83–3.45 ) in the ORS group . The time to recovery was also similar in the 2 groups ( hazard ratio 1.06 [ 95 % confidence interval 0.88–1.27 ] ) . In subjects who received zinc-ORS , the median ( IQR ) zinc intakes were 27 ( 16–46 ) mg on day 1 , 15 ( 6–27 ) mg on day 2 , and negligible thereafter . Conclusions : The World Health Organization – recommended daily dose of zinc for diarrhea was not achieved in most children beyond the first day of treatment . This is the likely explanation for the lack of improvement in outcomes from zinc-ORS when compared with ORS alone . Our findings do not support a change from using zinc syrup or dispersible tablets for treatment of acute diarrhea in children
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 .