Zinc could cut child fatalities

Taking zinc as a supplement reduces episodes of diarrhoea, according to a study by the Cochrane Collaboration.

The finding that zinc may reduce deaths and cut cases of diarrhoea is important for South Africa because diarrhoea is the leading cause of death of children under 14.

Researchers reviewed over 80 trials of zinc supplementation, which included more than 200000 participants, to create a comprehensive picture of all the data available on zinc.

Diarrhoea is the sixth-biggest killer of adults after TB, HIV and heart disease in South Africa, according to Statistics SA.

"We have a zinc deficiency in South Africa," said Dr Tamara Kredo, deputy director of the South Africa Cochrane Centre at the Medical Research Council.

About a third of children and women are zinc-deficient in South Africa, she said.

But Kredo said more research was needed to work out the areas where zinc supplementation needed to be offered.

"Children at a clinic in Greenpoint are not the same as those visiting a clinic in Khayelitsha."

She said HIV and TB leached nutrients from the body and could increase a person's existing deficiencies.

Kredo said South Africa had many obese children who were actually malnourished as they did not eat the right type of food.

The study showed that some children taking zinc supplements vomited as a side effect.