Abstract
Recent results of randomized controlled zinc supplementation trials in young children have confirmed that globally, zinc deficiency is a major public health problem contributing to significant morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases.1 On the basis of a pooled analysis of the zinc supplementation trials, it is estimated that assuring adequate zinc status may have preventative effects on diarrhea exceeding the effects of clean water and sanitation, as well as those of promotion of breastfeeding. Similarly, the estimated preventive effect of zinc supplementation on pneumonia is similar to that estimated for breastfeeding. Thus there seems little question that zinc deficiency occurs in young infants, including those who are breastfed, but the circumstances are not yet well characterized.
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Krebs, N.F., Westcott, J. (2002). Zinc and Breastfed Infants: If and When is There a Risk of Deficiency?. In: Davis, M.K., Isaacs, C.E., Hanson, L.Å., Wright, A.L. (eds) Integrating Population Outcomes, Biological Mechanisms and Research Methods in the Study of Human Milk and Lactation. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 503. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0559-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0559-4_7
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