Impact of sesame oil supplementation on antioxidant levels and nutritional recovery in severely malnourished children

Background/Objective: To compare the levels of antioxidants in malnourished children before and after sesame oil supplementation, to determine the effectiveness of sesame oil on nutritional parameters and to assess the acceptability and palatability of sesame oil. Design: Cross sectional study, Open prospective and international study. Setting: Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry of a Tertiary care hospital. Participants: Children between the age group of 1-5 yrs with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). Methods: All children underwent detailed anthropometric measurements, routine blood investigations and antioxidant levels including Vitamin C, GSH and MDA. Outcome measure: Effect of sesame oil on antioxidant capacity of body of all malnourished children. Results: Triceps skin fold thickness and mid upper arm circumference showed a rising trend. Edema disappeared in all 10 children. Antioxidant levels were found to be low in SAM children. Post supplementation, these antioxidants improved in all children. Plasma ascorbic acid improved by 19%(p=0.0003), Glutathione reductase improved by 9%(p=0.005) and Malondialdehyde decreased by 26 % (p=0.000). Conclusion: Sesame oil, a good naturally occurring antioxidant oil, readily available, relatively cheap, well palatable & serves dual purpose of supplying adequate calories as well as antioxidants, should be used to treat all severely malnourished children, as an add on to regular diet.