(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) -- Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are normal sized at birth, but often experience growth deficits and delayed development, which may result from chronic undernutrition, particularly zinc deficiency.

A study of children aged 4-10 years, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, evaluated the long-term effects of zinc supplementation in normalizing growth.

The 38 children recruited for the study through the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia averaged 7 years old; 24 were short in stature for their age, and 6 had low plasma zinc concentrations when the study began. They were randomly assigned to receive either 10 mg/day of elemental zinc in 5 mL cherry syrup, or 5 mL cherry syrup alone (control group).

Height and sitting height, body composition, and skinfold thickness measurements were taken at the entry into the study and after 3, 6 and 12 months. Significantly increased rates of growth in height and sitting height were apparent in the zinc-supplemented group of children after 12 months.

For example, among the subgroup of 24 children whose initial height status was low, the zinc-supplemented children grew 1.3 cm more in height than did the control group. There were no apparent effects of zinc on body composition. The significant declines in height-for-age and weight-for-age scores seen in the control group, which are typical of the gradual growth failure associated with SCD, were not present in the group of children receiving the zinc supplement.

An accompanying editorial by Prasad points out "these results provide further evidence that zinc deficiency resulting in growth retardation is a major clinical problem in patients with SCD." Zinc deficiency is also common in adult patients with SCD, and may lead to several associated symptoms, including increased susceptibility to infection, immune disorders, and cell injury.