Early child growth: how do nutrition and infection interact?

Abstract

It is well known that the relationship between child nutrition and infection is bidirectional, i.e. frequent illness can impair nutritional status and poor nutrition can increase the risk of infection. What is less clear is whether infection reduces the effectiveness of nutrition interventions or, vice versa, whether malnutrition lessens the impact of infection control strategies. The objective of this paper is to review the evidence regarding this interaction between nutrition and infection with respect to child growth in low-income populations. Even when there are no obvious symptoms, physiological conditions associated with infections can impair growth by suppressing appetite, impairing absorption of nutrients, increasing nutrient losses and diverting nutrients away from growth. However, there is little direct evidence that nutrition interventions are less effective when infection is common; more research is needed on this question. On the other hand, evidence from four intervention trials suggests that the adverse effects of certain infections (e.g. diarrhoea) on growth can be reduced or eliminated by improving nutrition. Interventions that combine improved nutrition with prevention and control of infections are likely to be most effective for enhancing child growth and development.

Risk factors associated with wasting among children aged 6 to 24 months old in Gaza strip

“…Infections, particularly diarrheal and upper respiratory diseases, occur most frequently during the first 2-3 years of life when immunocompetence is impaired and when, at the same time, children are first being exposed to disease pathogens (Rodríguez et al 2011). Infection can suppress appetite and directly affect nutrient metabolism, leading to poor nutrient utilization (Bloss et al 2004;Dewey & Mayers 2011). Indeed, children with poor appetite showed the highest prevalence of wasting as indicated in our results.…”

Inappropriate complementary feeding practice increases risk of stunting in children aged 12-24 months

“…The age of 2 years is the age at which infectious diseases such as diarrhea carry an extremely high risk of stunting. (23) Children without exclusive breastfeeding were more numerous in the group of cases than in the group of controls. This study is similar to a study in Ethiopia which showed that children with less than 6 months of breastfeeding had a greater risk of stunting than children with exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months.…”

“…(10) Infectious disease may be the cause of decreased dietary intake. Low dietary intake, decrease in nutrients as a result of vomiting, diarrhea, malabsorption and fever of long duration may cause nutrient deficiencies, and consequently infant and child growth and immune system abnormalities.…”

Relationship Between Growth Rate and Different Types of Infection in Children Under 5 Years on West Papua

“…Various hypothesis has said that frequent infections may make nutritional interventions may not as effective. 3 Based on Riskesdas 2010 data the prevalence of malnutrition in infants in Indonesia is still very high at 17,9%. 4 Due to its place in the tropical region, Indonesia is endemic to various different infectious diseases.…”