Making progress on Kwashiorkor
By joining strengths in a research project, the University of Copenhagen and Nutriset want to better understand a particularly fatal form of severe acute malnutrition - Kwashiorkor – and help the nutrition community find new and improved ways to treat and prevent it.
Kwashiorkor is a form of severe acute malnutrition characterized by oedematous swelling particularly in the feet, distended abdomen, enlarged liver, thinning hair, and skin rash, Although its symptoms were first described in 1935, this deadly condition largely remains a mystery. To this day, there is a poor understanding of the causes of Kwashiorkor, and a limited knowledge of its impact on the body – except that it has the highest mortality rate of all severe forms of malnutrition.
Building upon a first research collaboration – a study in Ethiopia about nutrition of HIV infected patients – Nutriset and the Department of Nutrition of the University of Copenhagen signed in 2010 an agreement to investigate Kwashiorkor. While the University provides the core research team and its expertise on animal nutrition models, Nutriset brings a financial contribution and is closely involved in the design of the study.
Understanding Kwashiorkor's impact on the body
Using animal subjects, the study started early May 2010. The first phase consists in creating an environment susceptible to induce kwashiorkor-like symptoms in piglets. Once this is achieved, the research team will explore the various pathways that lead to kwashiorkor in order to delve into the possible impacts of the disease on the functioning of the organs and metabolism.
Final outcomes are expected in 2012, and results will be made available to the nutrition community with a view to foster a better response to the malnutrition scourge. Once Kwashiorkor is more thoroughly understood, Nutriset intends to develop specific nutritional products for prevention of this oedematous form of malnutrition in the least-developed countries.
