Inadequate Vitamin C Intake and Intestinal Inflammation Are Associated with Multiple Micronutrient Deficiency in Young Children: Results from a Multi-Country Birth Cohort Study

Effects of L-Carnitine Supplementation on the Rate of Weight Gain and Biomarkers of Environmental Enteric Dysfunction in Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a major public health concern among low- and middle-income countries, where the majority of the children encountering this acute form of malnutrition suffer from environmental enteric dysfunction (EED). However, evidence regarding the effects of L-carnitine supplementation on the rate of weight gain and EED biomarkers in malnourished children is limited.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to investigate the role of L-carnitine supplementation on the rate of weight gain, duration of hospital stays, and EED biomarkers among children with SAM.

METHODS

A prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial was conducted at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Unit (NRU) of Dhaka Hospital, International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh. Children with SAM aged 9-24 mo were randomly assigned to receive commercial L-carnitine syrup (100 mg/kg/d) or placebo for 15 d in addition to standard of care. A total of 98 children with Weight-for-Length-z-score (WLZ) < -3 Standard deviation were enrolled between October 2021 and March 2023. Analyses were conducted on an intention-to-treat basis.

RESULTS

The primary outcome variable, "rate of weight gain," was comparable between L-carnitine and placebo groups (2.09 ± 2.23 compared with 2.07 ± 2.70; P = 0.973), which was consistent even after adjusting for potential covariates (age, sex, Weight-for-Age z-score, asset index, and WASH practices) through linear regression [ß: 0.37; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.63,1.37; P = 0.465]. The average hospital stay was ∼4 d. The results of adjusted median regression showed that following intervention, there was no significant difference in the EED biomarkers among the treatment arms; Myeloperoxidase (ng/mL) [ß: -1342.29; 95% CI: -2817.35, 132.77; P = 0.074], Neopterin (nmol/L) [ß: -153.33; 95% CI: -556.58, 249.91; P = 0.452], alpha-1-antitrypsin (mg/mL) [ß: 0.05; 95% CI: -0.15, 0.25; P = 0.627]. Initial L-carnitine (μmol/L) levels (median, interquartile range) for L-carnitine compared with placebo were 54.84 (36.0, 112.9) and 59.74 (45.7, 96.0), whereas levels after intervention were 102.05 (60.9, 182.1) and 105.02 (73.1, 203.7).

CONCLUSIONS

Although our study findings suggest that L-carnitine bears no additional effect on SAM, we recommend clinical trials with a longer duration of supplementation, possibly with other combinations of interventions, to investigate further into this topic of interest. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT05083637.