Nutrition morbidity interactions in pre-school children

Background & objectives

Research studies in the 1970s reported that in pre-school children, undernutrition increased the risk of infections and infections aggravated undernutrition. Over decades, there has been a reduction in prevalence of undernutrition and improvement in access to healthcare for treatment of infections. A mixed longitudinal study was undertaken to assess whether over time there were any changes from the earlier reported effect of undernutrition prior to infection on the risk of morbidity and effect of morbidity on nutritional status in pre-school children.

Methods

Pre-school (0-59 months of age) children from urban low- and middle-income families whose parents were willing to allow their participation in the study were enrolled. Information on sociodemographic profile of the families was collected at enrolment. Weight of all children and length in infants were recorded every month; length/height in children 12-59 months of age was recorded once in three months. Morbidity information was collected through fortnightly visits.

Results

3888 pre-school children were followed up in 74636 home visits. Among these children, underweight and wasting were associated with a small increase in risk of infections. The odds ratio for risk of infection for underweight children was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02 to 1.16) and for wasting was 1.18 (95% CI: 1.08 to 1.29). The deterioration in Z scores for weight-for-age and body mass index-for-age in children during illness and convalescence was small but significant (P<0.001).

Interpretation & conclusions

The increased risk of infections in undernourished children living in overcrowded tenements in areas with poor environmental hygiene was not significant, perhaps because the risk of infection in normally nourished children was also high. The deterioration in nutritional status following infection was small because of the ready access to and utilization of health and nutrition care.

A Study on Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Organic and Inorganic Cauliflower Greens Powder (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L)

Cauliflower greens is one such popularly consumed vegetable, possessing potent bioactive components where the leaves of the vegetables are often neglected or discarded and used as fodder. Hence an attempt was made to analyze the presence of different antioxidants such as DPPH, FRAP, SOD and Total antioxidant contents there by exploring the potential benefits of these leaves which is solely ignored by majority of population. The present study reveals that the presence of promising compounds can be consumed in regular diet in maintaining good health and can be technically applied in preparing natural therapeutic medicines to combat various degenerative diseases and can also be used in food processing industries due to its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties Cauliflower has a very high waste index, and this result throws  light on the importance and the properties of cauliflower leafs, thereby reducing  food wastage.