Dietary intake and micronutrient deficiency in children with cancer.
Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2019 Jul 9:e27895. doi: 10.1002/pbc.27895.
Morrell MBG1, Baker R2, Johnson A3, Santizo R4, Liu D5, Moody K1.
NOTE: Zinc increases the amount of vitamin D which actually gets to the tissues
Increased Zinc ==> more activation of Vitamin D Receptor
Items in both categories Cancer (not specific ones) and Infant/Child are listed here:
- Childhood Cancers - Vitamin D can help - many studies
- Poor prognosis of solid childhood cancers 14.7 X more likely with a poor Vitamin D Receptor – July 2022
- Newly diagnosed Children with Cancer have low vitamin D, especially if black - May 2022
- Cancer of the eye in children: most of the risk factors are associated with low vitamin D – July 2021
- Children's Cancer hospital now testing vitamin D frequently and supplementing weekly – July 2021
- Consensus recommends at least 20 ng of Vitamin D for childhood cancer (not nearly enough) – June 2021
- Cancer during childhood - many studies
- Childhood Cancer survivors – only 1 in 25 had consumed Vitamin D RDA – Oct 2019
- Children with cancer were deficient in Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Zinc – July 2019
- Childhood cancer survivors have increased chronic health problems as adults – Sept 2017
- Children with Cancer were 3X more likely to be vitamin D deficient – July 2013
- Vitamin D levels very low for some childhood cancers, then got lower – Sept 2012
Data regarding micronutrient deficiencies in children with cancer are lacking. We measured micronutrients in a subset of children with cancer (n = 23) participating in a randomized trial of the neutropenic diet. Ninety-six percent of children had ≥1 micronutrient deficiency and 39% had ≥3 micronutrient deficiencies.
- Eighty-six percent of children had vitamin C deficiency,
- 87% had 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency,
- 50% had zinc deficiency, and
- 13% had vitamin A deficiency.
Dietary intake did not correlate with micronutrient deficiency status. More data are needed regarding the prevalence and etiology of micronutrient deficiencies in children with cancer to further understand their implications and treatment.