Study of serum zinc level and the effect of zinc supplementation on skin changes in infants with Kwashiorkor

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out on 30 patients having Kwashiorkor with skin changes and 10 controls. The patients were randomly distributed into three groups Group A, patients received a balanced nutritional therapy without any zinc supplement, group B, patients used topical zinc oxide 15% [on the affected sites] in addition to nutritional therapy, and group C, patients received oral zinc sulfate supplement [2 mg/kg body weight/day] in addition to nutritional oral therapy. Results showed that on admission, serum zinc and protein levels among the three studied groups were significantly lower than the control group. The recovery of skin lesions in patients of group B was found to occur earlier than that of group A. Patients of group C did not achieve earlier recovery of skin lesions when compared to group A