A PRELIMINARY-REPORT - EFFECTS OF ZINC AND MICRONUTRIENT REPLETION ONGROWTH AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF URBAN CHINESE CHILDREN

Objective: Zinc is essential for growth and cognition of experimental animals. Past research found zinc repletion improved growth of stunted Chinese children. Therefore we measured effects of zinc repletion on growth and neuropsychological functions of children. Design: Double-bl ind randomized controlled treatment trial. Setting: Elementary schools in low income districts of Chongqing, Qingdao and Shanghai. Subjects: Three hundred-seventy-two 6 to 9 year old first graders. Intervention s: Treatments were 20 mg zinc, 20 mg zinc with micronutrients, or micr onutrients alone. The micronutrient mixture was based on guidelines of the US NAS/NRC. Treatments were assigned to classrooms of 40 or more children each, and administered by teachers 6 days per week for 10 wee ks. Measures of Outcome: Changes in knee height and neuropsychological functions. Results: Zinc alone had the least effect on growth while z inc with micronutrients had the largest effect; micronutrients alone h ad an intermediate effect. Zinc-containing treatments improved neurops ychological functions, but micronutrients alone had little effect. Con clusions: The findings confirm the essentiality of zinc for growth of children, and show, for the first time, the essentiality of zinc for n europsychological functions of children. In addition, the need for rep letion of other potentially limiting nutrients in studies examining th e effects of specific nutrients on growth and neuropsychological funct ions was confirmed.