Deficiency of zinc is estimated to cause over 450,000 child deaths annually due to the increasing risk of diarrhea and pneumonia. Several trials on daily zinc supplementation have presented preventive benefits in childhood diarrhea with a 20% reduction in incidence. Also, the use of zinc supplements in treatment of diarrhea has been shown to be successful in shortening the duration of the episode by almost 10% and reducing the number of prolonged episodes.

The World Health Organization has recommended that zinc supplements can be used for 10-14 days for each episode of childhood diarrhea with oral hydration solution and feeding. Large-scale efficacy trials of these mentioned recommendations in Bangladesh and India have reported a reduction in hospitalizations due to diarrhea and pneumonia and also in child mortality. A few trials have also revealed a reduction in the occurrence of childhood pneumonia with zinc supplements. Few studies have also found a therapeutic benefit of zinc as an adjunctive therapy along with antibiotics.

Preventive zinc supplementation improves the growth of children in developing countries and also reduces total deaths in 1-4 year old children by approximately 18%. Supplementation of zinc is an intervention which has proven effectiveness and extensive application to manage pneumonia and diarrhea, which are the two most important childhood infectious diseases worldwide.

 Source: Black RE, Fischer Walker C. Role of zinc in child health and survival. Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser. 2012;70:37-42. doi:10.1159/000337393