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SCIENCE-HEALTH-STUNTING
Severe exposure to pathogens can cause childhood stunting: study
PARIS, Feb 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Malnourished children suffering from
stunting may have intestinal damage caused by continual exposure to pathogens
that reduces their ability to absorb nutrients, according to research Monday
calling for treatments that go beyond providing extra food.
Despite a nearly 40 percent drop from 1990 to 2015 of stunting in poor
countries, some 140 million children four or younger are still too short for
their age, a clinical condition that impairs both brain and body development.
Researchers, who studied more than 300 children in Zambia, found evidence
that reduced absorption of nutrients could be caused by a survival mechanism
in the gut triggered by intense exposure to microbial pathogens, like
bacteria, viruses and parasites.
“It would seem obvious that the appropriate treatment for malnutrition is
food, and clearly without food no-one can recover from malnutrition,” said
co-author Paul Kelly, professor of tropical gastroenterology at Queen Mary
University of London.
“But often it’s not enough. Once children in disadvantaged populations
become clinically malnourished, providing extra food is insufficient to
guarantee recovery.”
Despite a nearly 40 percent drop from 1990 to 2015 of stunting in poor
countries, some 140 million children four or younger are still too short for
their age, a clinical condition that impairs both brain and body development.
And for millions of children in parts of Africa and South Asia, the study
said gut damage due to environmental factors is a major contributor to
stunting.
Previous research has shown that a proportion of children remain stunted
despite food and sanitary interventions, Kelly said.
For the latest study, which looked at infants in Lusaka, Zambia between
2016 to 2019, researchers using endoscopy and microscopy to assess intestinal
health.
They found “very intense infection pressure” with gut pathogens, Kelly
said.
He said researchers were surprised to find evidence that the gut adapts to
these pathogens moderating the process through which gut bacteria can
infiltrate into circulation in the body and trigger inflammation.
But in staving off the pathogens, the response also may lead to a reduced
ability for the body to absorb nutrients from food.
“In other words, stunting is the price you pay for staying alive,” Kelly
said, adding that this should alter the way stunting is treated.
“We are going to have to be more subtle about unravelling this adaptive
response than merely providing extra rations.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 2308 hrs