Oral hygiene and nutritional status of children aged 1-7 years in a rural community.

SUMMARY INTRODUCTION: Poor oral hygiene, measles and malnutrition have been implicated as predisposing factors to Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis (ANUG) and cancrum oris, common oral diseases prevalent among children ages 3-6 years in rural communities. OBJECTIVE: The study was aimed at reviewing the oral hygiene, nutritional and immunization status of children 13-84 months of age in a rural community. DESIGN: A cross sectional study. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty seven (237), 168 and 321 children and their parents from Illela, Gada and Gwadabawa respectively were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire to record the biodata and social status of the mother and measles immunization status of the children. The oral hygiene status of the children was determined using the plaque/debris index score. Their anthropometric measurements were also recorded. RESULTS: A total of 636 children aged 1-7years were examined. Of these, 8.3% had plaque/debris index of zero. About twenty four percent (23.9%) had plaque/debris index of 1, while 55.2% had plaque/debris index of 2 and 12.6% had plaque/debris index of 3. There was no statistical difference between the females and the males (p=0.333), but a significant difference existed between the age groups (p=0.001). Of the study group, 84.3% were malnourished and only 11.3% were immunized against measles. CONCLUSION: Poor oral hygiene, malnutrition and low measles immunization were common in the community. These conditions predispose to noma. Prompt and adequate intervention programmes such as systematic oral health, immunization and nutrition promotion programmes are urgently needed in these communities.

Levels of calcium, aluminium and chromium in serum of exclusively breastfed infants at six months of age in Savannah region of Nigeria.

This study was undertaken to determine the levels of calcium, aluminium and chromium in the serum of apparently healthy exclusively breastfed infants at the sixth month of lactation. Forty-five infants (with a male:female ratio 2:1) were studied. They were of an average age six months and one week, weighed 6.8-10.0 kg. The mean calcium levels of 83.92 ug/ml (2.1 mmol/L) obtained is within the reference range (2.1-2.5 mmol/L) in this area. The mean level of chromium was 0.11 u/ml while that of aluminium is significantly (P < 0.001) higher than the toxic level reported by some workers, yet none of the subject was manifesting any obvious signs of toxicity. We can then infer from our data that the exclusively breastfed infants are able to extract enough calcium, aluminium and chromium from the maternal breastmilk.

Concentration of eight trace minerals in milk and sera of mother-infant pairs in northern Nigeria.

Breastmilk from 15 healthy lactating women (21-31 years of age) from the hot, semi-arid sahel of Africa were analysed for copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. Relative to published data from other populations worldwide, the milk of the Jos women appeared to contain adequate levels of magnesium, manganese, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and iron, but relatively low concentrations of zinc (1.07 micrograms/ml) and copper (170 micrograms/l). The sera of the exclusively breastfed infants nursed by these mothers contained levels of all these minerals that are within the international reference range of values. No statistically significant correlation was observed between the level of a particular mineral in the mothers' milk and the sera of their nursing infants.

The fatty acid composition of human milk in northern Nigeria.

The authors previously reported that the milk of Yoruba women in southwestern Nigeria was deficient in alpha-linolenic acid and contained a high percentage (42%) of medium chain-length fatty acids (MCFA, C10-C14). In the present study, the authors used capillary gas-liquid chromatography to analyze the milk of Hausa women in the northern region of Nigeria. The milk of the Hausa women contained 27% MCFA, 10.6% linoleic acid, 0.41% alpha-linolenic acid, 0.52% arachidonic acid, and 0.32% docosahexaenoic acid. The proportion of alpha-linolenic acid in the serum phospholipids of a subset of exclusively breastfed infants (n = 15; mean age, 6.2 +/- 0.3 months) was below the limit of detection (< 0.03%). While the milk of women in northern Nigeria is adequate with regard to n-3 and n-6 fatty acids, to satisfy the requirements for alpha-linolenic acid, it may be necessary to supplement the infants of these women after the first 6 months of life.