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Honey potentially has superior results than cough medication or placebo in curtailing symptoms and enhancing sleep in children with acute cough.
2023 European Journal of Pediatrics Honey for acute cough in children — a systematic review Kuitunen I, Renko M
Systematic Review Cough Honey Sleep
Methodology:
This targeted review leveraged multiple databases, such as PubMed, Scopus, CENTRAL, CINAHL, and Web of Science, to extract relevant trials relating to honey's usage in treating acute child cough. By applying a systematic approach, the emphasis was on randomized controlled trials featuring children. To ensure the results' credibility, payment was done for risk-of-bias as well as the quality of the evidence. The studies were not combined owing to the absence of essential information; instead, conclusions provided a range of noticed effects for principal results.
Discussion of results:
Following rigorous screening of almost four hundred papers, a select ten were incorporated. Significant variability in biases was noticed, with two studies possessing a high risk-of-bias and six inviting some concerns. The evidence, though of low to very low quality, indicated honey's potential superiority over placebo/no treatment and cough medication, both in reducing cough frequency and improving sleep quality.
A lower dose of iron amino acid chelate was not as effective as the standard iron salts dose in increasing ferritin levels in a predominantly iron-replete female Cambodian population.
2023 The Journal of Nutrition Is a Lower Dose of More Bioavailable Iron (18-mg Ferrous Bisglycinate) Noninferior to 60-mg Ferrous Sulfate in Increasing Ferritin Concentrations While Reducing Gut Inflammation and Enteropathogen Detection in Cambodian Women? A Randomized Controlled Noni Fischer JAJ, Pei LX, Elango R, Hou K, Goldfarb DM, Karakochuk CD
Clinical Study Iron Deficiency
The research used a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled noninferiority trial conducted in Cambodia. Participating nonpregnant women, aged 18-45, were randomly assigned either 60mg ferrous sulfate, 18mg ferrous bisglycinate or a placebo for 12 weeks. Baseline and 12-week post blood and fecal samples were collected from the participants and used to measure ferritin and fecal calprotectin levels as well as to detect the presence of enteropathogens.
The study found that mean ferritin concentration was higher at 12 weeks in those receiving ferrous sulfate dose compared to those receiving a lower dose of ferrous bisglycinate and a placebo. No significant changes were observed across the groups in terms of fecal calprotectin concentrations or detection of enteropathogens. Therefore, it was concluded that the 18mg dose of ferrous bisglycinate was not as effective as the 60mg ferrous sulfate dose in increasing ferritin concentrations.
Iron supplementation with ferrous bisglycinate in Cambodian women of reproductive age may increase the abundance of certain bacteria, including potential enteric pathogens.
2023 Microbiology Spectrum The Effect of Oral Iron Supplementation on Gut Microbial Composition: a Secondary Analysis of a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial among Cambodian Women of Reproductive Age Finlayson-Trick E, Nearing J, Fischer JAJ, Ma Y, Wang S, Krouen H, et al.
Randomised Controlled Trial Iron Deficiency
The study involved a secondary analysis of a double-blinded, randomized controlled trial examining the impact of two different oral iron supplements, ferrous sulfate and ferrous bisglycinate, or placebo on the gut microbiomes in Cambodian women of reproductive age (WRA) over a period of 12 weeks. Stool samples were provided by the participants at the beginning and end of the study for gut microbial analysis. This analysis consisted of 16S rRNA gene sequencing and targeted real-time PCR.
In terms of results, it was found that iron supplementation did not significantly change the overall diversity of the gut microbiome in these predominantly iron-replete Cambodian WRA. However, ferrous bisglycinate did lead to an increase in the relative abundance of and showed a trend of an increase for another strain of bacteria, Escherichia. Furthermore, the presence of a virulence gene associated with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli was detected in a greater quantity in the stool samples of those who took ferrous sulfate. This suggests that while the overall biodiversity of the gut microbiome remained stable, certain potential pathogen-associated bacterial populations may have increased due to the iron supplementation.
Ferrous bisglycinate, an innovative amino acid iron chelate, showed increased absorption and fewer gastrointestinal side effects when used as an iron supplement in pregnant women.
2023 Nutrition Reviews The effects of oral ferrous bisglycinate supplementation on hemoglobin and ferritin concentrations in adults and children: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Fischer JAJ, Cherian AM, Bone JN, Karakochuk CD
Meta-Analysis Iron Deficiency
Methodology: The team carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through a comprehensive survey of electronic databases and grey literature up to July 17, 2020, to ascertain the impacts of ferrous bisglycinate versus other iron supplements on hemoglobin and ferritin levels and gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events. Exercises were undertaken to calculate averages from these trials which involved pregnant women and children and these average estimates were communicated as standardized mean differences. The rate of occurrence for GI adverse events was determined using Poisson generalized linear mixed-effects models. Studies involving other subjects (men and non-pregnant women) were evaluated on an individual basis.
Discussion of Results: The results reveal fermentable bisglycinate demonstrating an advantage over other iron supplements. Among the pregnant women involved in the trials, those using this supplement had higher hemoglobin levels after 4-20 weeks of administration. Additionally, these women reported reduced GI adverse events. Although the observed increase in ferritin levels was not marked as significant, it depicted an upward trend. However, no notable differences were detected in either hemoglobin or ferritin concentrations in children using ferrous bisglycinate.
The combination of Tuina (Chinese therapeutic massage) and Shen Ling Bai Zhu San is more effective in treating pediatric diarrhea due to spleen deficiency than Shen Ling Bai Zhu San alone.
2022 Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science Clinical study on Tuina plus Shen Ling Bai Zhu San in treating children with diarrhea due to spleen deficiency Li J
Clinical Study Diarrhoea Meridian Massage Shen Ling Bai Zhu San
Methodology: The paper reports on a clinical trial involving a total of 105 children diagnosed with diarrhea due to spleen deficiency. These children were randomly allocated into two separate groups: a control group and an observation group. The control group, consisting of 52 children, were exclusively treated with Shen Ling Bai Zhu San orally. The observation group, on the other hand, consisted of 53 children who received an additional Tuina treatment along with Shen Ling Bai Zhu San.
Results: After implementing the treatments, it was found that every child in the observation group showed improvement, compared to 90% improvement rate in the control group. This correlated to a decrease in scores of primary and secondary symptoms of traditional Chinese medicine in both groups post-treatment. Furthermore, the children in the observation group who received both treatments had even lower symptom scores than the control group who only received Shen Ling Bai Zhu San. The treatments were also well-tolerated with no significant adverse reactions reported.
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