Food supplements to fight malaria infections

17 december 2009

Last Monday, 14 December, WOTRO researcher Erasto Mbugi received his PhD for his research on the effects of supplementation with zinc and other multi-micronutrients on the health, development and well being of Tanzanian children. The results of this study will provide useful information to policy makers that will help to assist the community to fight against infection through improved nutrition, particularly in children.

The study of Mbugi was carried out among African children to assess the effect of nutrient deficiencies, particularly zinc, on immune function to protect against malaria infection. The studies proposed aim was to determine the effects of supplementation with zinc and other multi-micronutrients on the health, development and well being of Tanzanian children. To achieve this, children of 6 to 60 months of age received for a period of 26 weeks a daily oral supplement with either zinc or its placebo, and additionally a daily oral supplement with either multiple micronutrients other than zinc or their placebo. Group differences in immunological parameters were measured reflecting alterations in malaria-specific antibody formation, capacity for induction of total and malaria-specific T-cell subpopulations, and alterations in cytokine-mediated immune regulation.

The study was carried in an area where both malaria and micronutrients deficiency co-exist. The community studied is poor with subsistence farming mainly growing maize as staple food. The results give useful information to policy makers which will help in future plans to fight malaria infections through improved nutrition, particularly in children. This approach is more appropriate to the target community and the like whose economic status makes it difficult to afford the costs of buying conventional drugs to cure the disease. The approach may be implemented together with future malaria vaccine intervention to strengthen the ability of the body to restrain malaria infection.

Organisation: Wageningen University
Supervisor: prof.dr. H.F.J. Savelkoul
Supervisor: Prof.dr. J.F. Shao (Tumaini University and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Moshi, Tanzania)
Co-Supervisor: Dr.ir. H. Verhoef

More informatie can be found here.