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Effects of Zinc Supplementation on Physical Growth in 2–5-Year-Old Children

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Abstract

Physical growth disorders in under 5-year-old children are a common health problem in many countries including Iran. The aim of this study was to determine effects of supplemental zinc on physical growth in preschool children with retarded linear growth. This study was a community-based randomized controlled trial on 2–5-year-old children with height-for-age below 25th percentile of National Center for Health Statistics growth chart. Ninety children were randomly assigned in zinc group (ZG) or placebo group (PG). After 6 months of zinc or placebo supplementation, we followed up the children for another 6 months. Anthropometric indicators were measured before the intervention and then monthly for 11 months. Forty children in ZG and 45 in PG concluded the study. Zinc supplementation increased weight gain in boys (P = 0.04) and girls (P = 0.05) compared to placebo but had no significant effect on mid-upper arm circumference increment in either sexes. The most significant (P = 0.001) effect of Zinc supplementation was seen in boys’ height increment at the end of follow-up period. Stunted growth rate in ZG changed significantly (P = 0.01) from 26.7% to 2.5% throughout the study. This study showed that daily supplementation of 5 mg elemental zinc for 6 months improves physical growth in terms of height increment and weight gain in children with undesirable linear growth, especially in boys.

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Acknowledgement

We thank department of medical research at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences for funding this project. We also appreciate the efforts of personnel of Azad-shahr Primary Health Center who helped us in data collection.

Conflicts of interests, source of funding, and authorship

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. This study was fully funded by the Department of Research Administration, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd, Iran.

Dr. H. Mozaffari-Khosravi who is a senior lecturer in Human Nutrition Department at SSUMS designed and supervised this study. Mehrdad Shakiba and Mohamad-Hassan Eftekhari participated in case selection and writing the draft of manuscript. Farhad Fatehi facilitated with data analysis and writing the manuscript. H. Mozaffari-Khosravi, M. Shakiba, and F. Fatehi are employed by SSUMS, but M. Eftekhari has no conflict of interest. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version submitted for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Hassan Mozaffari-Khosravi

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Mehrdad Shakiba

  3. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Mohamad-Hassan Eftekhari

  4. Yazd Diabetes Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Farhad Fatehi

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  1. Hassan Mozaffari-Khosravi
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  2. Mehrdad Shakiba
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  3. Mohamad-Hassan Eftekhari
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  4. Farhad Fatehi
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Correspondence to Hassan Mozaffari-Khosravi.

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Mozaffari-Khosravi, H., Shakiba, M., Eftekhari, MH. et al. Effects of Zinc Supplementation on Physical Growth in 2–5-Year-Old Children. Biol Trace Elem Res 128, 118–127 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-008-8261-1

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