ABSTRACT
Objective: the present study was conducted to evaluate the impact of oral omega-3 supplementation on asthmatic children attending Alexandria University Children's Hospital [AUCH]
Subjects: the present study was carried out on 60 children with mild to moderate persistent asthma attending the Asthma Clinic at AUCH
Methods: a randomized controlled trial for 4 months during which subjects were divided equally into 2 groups: - Group [A]: received a daily dose of 1000 mg triglyceridic oil containing about 30% EPA/DHA in addition to their ordinary asthma treatment for 4 months. - Group [B]: received their ordinary asthma treatment only. During the 4 months study, children and their primary caregivers [usually a parent] attended the clinic on another 2 occasions [after 2 and 4 months]. At each visit the child completed the Asthma Control Questionnaire [ACQ] followed by spirometry to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed intervention
Results: the mean age of studied children was 8.19+/- 2.22 years and male children constituted 78.3% of the study sample. 60% of cases were living in urban areas. The positive family history was positive in 45% of the studied cases. There was a significant improvement of ACQ score of omega-3group at 2 and4 months after the study when compared to the start of the study, while there is no significant improvement in ACQ score of control group
Conclusion: the current study shows that supplementation of asthmatic children with omega3 significantly improved ACQ score
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to investigate the roles of leukotrienes [LTs] and essential fatty acids [EFA] in the pathophysiology of severe protein energy malnutrition [PEM]. Plasma cysteinyl LTs [LTC[4], LTD[4], LTE[4]] and plasma EFA levels were measured by ELISA and gas liquid chromatography after plasma extraction respectively, in 40 severely malnourished children with kwashiorkor [n=20] and marasmus [n=20]. Ten well nourished children of matching age served as control. The cysteinyl LTs level was significantly higher in kwashiorkor group than in marasmic or control groups [p<0.05]. The plasma fatty acid patterns in malnourished children indicated changes characteristic of EFA deficiency, with lower linoleic acid [LA], alpha-linolenic acid [alpha LNA], arachidonic acid [AA] and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] levels, accompanied by significantly higher oleic acid levels in both malnourished groups. The lowest values of LA and alpha-LNA were detected in marasmic group and the lowest levels of AA and DHA were in kwashiorkor group [p<0.05]. There was an inverse correlation between AA and LTs levels in children with kwashiorkor. Clinical problems associated with kwashiorkor such as hair and skin changes, edema, psychomotor alteration and hepatomegaly were significantly correlated directly with LTs and in versely with AA levels. The findings of this study suggest that cysteinyl LTs and EFA deficiency are involved in the pathophysiology of PEM particularly kwashiorkor and that severe PEM is associated with impaired FA desaturation and elongation pathways