Peer-reviewed article
Zinc Supplementation on Stunting Child: Literature Review
Bekti Putri Harwijayanti, M. Zen Rahfiludin, Sri Achadi Nugraheni ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This literature review examined six studies from 2012-2021 on zinc supplementation as an intervention for stunted children. The review found that zinc supplementation significantly improved children's height-for-age measurements. However, the intervention did not produce significant changes in children's biochemical status or other measured variables. The authors recommend continuing zinc supplementation for stunting management while ensuring adequate intake of other micronutrients.
Key points
- Zinc deficiency in children causes growth disorders, increased infection risk, and reduced developmental ability
- Zinc supplementation showed significant positive effect on height-for-age (TB/U) measurements in stunted children
- No significant changes were found in biochemical status or other variables measured
- Previous zinc intervention studies revealed contradictory findings
- Authors recommend continued use of zinc supplementation while considering adequacy of other micronutrients
Limitations
This is a literature review synthesizing findings from only six articles, so it cannot establish causal mechanisms or provide individual-level evidence. The review does not clarify which specific studies showed mixed results or provide detailed analysis of why biochemical outcomes differed from anthropometric outcomes.
Abstract
Zinc (Zn) deficiency in children causes growth disorders, increasing the possibility of getting an infection, and reducing the child’s development ability, whereas those problems are related to stunting. Zinc supplementation in several countries is used in efforts to prevent stunting and improve nutrition to reduce stunting prevalence. Unfortunately, zinc intervention revealed some contradictive findings and needed further study. The aim of this study is to analyze zinc supplementation in stunted toddlers. The method used is a literature review with identification, filtration, eligibility determination, and inclusion steps. The article was obtained from search engines: Science Direct, Scopus, Proquest, and Google Scholar within the year 2012-2021. 6 articles were obtained through the process. The analysis result shows that the intervention of zinc implementation gives a significant effect in increasing a child’s height/age (TB/U). However, a significant change towards the status of a child’s biochemistry and another variable was not found. We suggest that zinc supplementation is continuously used in managing stunting by considering the adequacy of other micronutrients nutrition. Abstrak: Defisiensi zinc (Zn) pada anak menyebabkan gangguan pertumbuhan, peningkatan kemungkinan terkena infeksi, dan menurunkan kemampuan perkembangan anak, dimana masalah-masalah tersebut berkaitan dengan kejadian stunting. Suplementasi zinc di beberapa negara digunakan dalam upaya pencegahan stunting dan perbaikan gizi dengan harapan dapat menurunkan prevalensi stunting. Sayangnya, intervensi zinc mengungkapkan beberapa temuan kontradiktif dan memerlukan kajian lebih lanjut. Studi ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis suplementasi zinc pada kejadian balita stunting. Metode yang digunakan adalah literatur review dengan tahap identifikasi, filtrasi, penentuan kelayakan, dan inklusi. Artikel diperoleh dari mesin pencari Science Direct, Scopus, Proquest, dan Google Scholar dengan batasan tahun 2012-2021. Sejumlah 6 artikel diperoleh dari proses tersebut. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa intervensi suplementasi zinc memberikan dampak yang signifikan dalam peningkatan tinggi badan/umur (TB/U) anak, meskipun tidak ditemukan perubahan yang signifikan pada status biokimia anak dan variabel-variabel lain. Kami menyarankan agar suplementasi zinc tetap digunakan dalam penatalaksanaan stunting dengan memperhatikan kecukupan gizi mikronutrien lainnya.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Zinc supplementation
- Population
- Stunted toddlers in multiple countries
Key finding
Zinc supplementation produced significant improvement in children's height-for-age (TB/U)