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Micronutrient Deficiencies: Impact on Therapeutic Outcomes

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Optimizing Treatment for Children in the Developing World

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Abstract

Stemming from an interplay of socioeconomic disparity, poverty, chronic food insecurity, poor feeding practices, and illness, more than two billion individuals worldwide are chronically malnourished and suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Malnutrition is directly or indirectly responsible for 45 % of global deaths among children under 5 years of age. In early childhood, chronic malnutrition resulting in micronutrient deficiencies may significantly impact motor and cognitive development. Micronutrient deficiencies which have a notably increased prevalence in children of developing countries are vitamin A, zinc, and iron. The authors provide an overview of the role of these essential nutrients in health and illness and discuss various strategies which have been studied and implemented in order to improve the nutritional status of children in the developing world.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Deborah Kennedy ND, PhD & Parvaz Madadi PhD

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  1. Deborah Kennedy ND, PhD
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  2. Parvaz Madadi PhD
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Correspondence to Deborah Kennedy ND, PhD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Stuart MacLeod

  2. University of Melbourne Medical School, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Suzanne Hill

  3. Departments of Pediatrics and Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Gideon Koren

  4. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska University, Hostpital Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Anders Rane

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Kennedy, D., Madadi, P. (2015). Micronutrient Deficiencies: Impact on Therapeutic Outcomes. In: MacLeod, S., Hill, S., Koren, G., Rane, A. (eds) Optimizing Treatment for Children in the Developing World. Adis, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15750-4_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15750-4_16

  • Publisher Name: Adis, Cham

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