Lack of influence of red palm oil on severity of malaria infection in pre-school Nigerian children
| Autor: | David I. Thurnham, Christine A. Northrop-Clewes, K.A. Cooper, Delana A. Adelekan, A.O. Esimai |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2002 |
| Předmět: |
Vitamin
Male medicine.medical_specialty Population Physiology Nigeria Palm Oil chemistry.chemical_compound Retinyl palmitate Severity of illness medicine Humans Plant Oils Malaria Falciparum education Vitamin A education.field_of_study biology business.industry C-reactive protein Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Retinol Infant General Medicine Anthropometry medicine.disease Prognosis Carotenoids Surgery Diet Infectious Diseases chemistry Socioeconomic Factors Child Preschool biology.protein Regression Analysis Parasitology Female business Malaria |
| Zdroj: | Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 96(2) |
| ISSN: | 0035-9203 |
| Popis: | Vitamin A supplements are reported to reduce febrile episodes of malaria and parasite counts, especially in children aged 12-36 months. Red palm oil (RPO) is a good source of vitamin A, is rich in alpha- and beta-carotene and is as effective as high-dose retinyl palmitate supplements in improving vitamin A status. In western Nigeria, where malaria is endemic, RPO is widely used and consumption can be measured using plasma alpha-carotene as a proxy biomarker since there are few other prominent sources of this carotene in the diet. The influence of RPO consumption on malaria was investigated in 207 children (aged 0-60 months) who presented with fever in August-October 1999 at several hospital clinics around Ile-Ife. Medical and anthropometric data, body temperature, parasitaemia and plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), retinol, carotenoids and tocopherols were measured in the children. Mothers were interviewed on usage of cooking oil and mosquito nets in the home, education and occupation. Most families used RPO and median plasma concentrations of both alpha-carotene (0.518 mumol/L) and beta-carotene (0.698 mumol/L) in the children were high. Using body temperature, parasite density and plasma CRP as markers of disease severity, multiple linear regression analysis was carried out on those for whom complete data were available (n = 138), separated into 3 age-groups of12 months (n = 37), 12-36 months (n = 68) and36 months (n = 33). In the absence of plasma retinol, plasma alpha-carotene explained 13.9% of the variance in parasite density (P = 0.013) but only in children aged36 months. The relationship with disease severity was negative, i.e., there was some evidence that RPO usage protected against malaria, and other dietary indices generally indicated that better nutritional status was associated with a lower severity of malaria. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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