Nutritional support and growth in thalassaemia major
a Research Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai
University, Thailand, b Department of Pediatrics, Louisiana State University School of
Medicine, New Orleans, USA, c International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research,
Bangladesh, d University of Alabama in Birmingham, USA
Correspondence to: Dr G J Fuchs, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Accepted 30 January 1997
Twelve thalassaemic children under 3 years of age received
intensive nutritional support for one month and were discharged on a
prescribed diet of locally available foods. Anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance analysis and dietary intake were longitudinally assessed. Mean energy intake was 20% greater than the recommended daily allowance during nutritional supplementation as compared with
below the recommended daily allowance before and after the period of
nutritional support. Weight, but not height, significantly increased
during the support period and was due to increases in both fat free
mass and fat mass. Body weight, fat free mass and fat mass declined in
line with the reduced intake upon return home; however, height velocity
accelerated and exceeded normal through the fourth month before
resuming a below normal rate. It can be concluded that (1) nutritional
stunting as the result of reduced nutrient intake is an important cause
of growth failure in young children with thalassaemia and is responsive
to nutritional support, (2) the deficit in height velocity was due to
retarded truncal height growth, and (3) the bioelectrical impedance
analysis method is suitable for body composition analysis of
thalassaemic children.
© 1997 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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