Lee Swanson Research Update

Zinc Can Speed Pneumonia Recovery in Children

October 2004

Supplementation with zinc seems to speed recovery from pneumonia in children who live in regions where people tend to be deficient in the mineral. That's the conclusion reached by researchers at the Centre for Health and Population Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Since pneumonia is a leading cause of death in young children, scientists conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 270 children, ages 2 to 23 months, to see if zinc would have a beneficial effect.

In addition to standard antibiotic treatment, the children received either 20 mg per day of elemental zinc or placebo within one hour of receiving the antibiotic.

Researchers found that children in the zinc-treated group had more rapid improvements in breathing rates and oxygen levels; severity of disease was reduced more quickly and subjects in the treatment group were able to leave the hospital one day earlier than non-treated subjects.

Researchers said that zinc encouraged an enhanced immune response and decreased lung inflammation. They recommended use of zinc supplementation in areas where people tend to be zinc deficient or where second-line drugs are not available.

Lancet 363(9422):1683-1688

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