METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was applied, in which 714 mother-child dyads, with children aged 6-59 months were enrolled. A three-stage randomized cluster sampling approach was applied.
RESULTS: The mean dietary diversity score among children aged 6-23 and 24-59 months was 2.98 (±1.27) and 3.478 (±1.07), respectively. In children aged 6-23 months, there was a significant difference in their nutritional status, based on fish consumption (χ2 = 10.979, df = 2, p = 0.004). Children from poorer households consumed mostly small fish (Kapenta). The quantity of fish consumed by children was significantly associated with stunting in both age groups, odds ratio = 0.947 (95% CI: 0.896, 1.000) for children aged 6-23 months and odds ratio = 1.038 (95% CI: 1.006, 1.072) for children aged 24-59 months old. Other significant risk factors for stunting in children aged 6-23 months were the child's age, mother's body mass index, access to treated water and child morbidity. Child's age, mother's educational level and wealth status were determinants of dietary diversity in children aged 6-59 months as shown by the Poisson regression.
CONCLUSION: Nutritional status of children aged 6-23 months is associated with fish consumption, with children consuming fish less likely to be stunted. Small fish (Kapenta) is an animal-source food that is particularly important in the diet of children in urban poor households in Zambia and contributes to better nutritional outcomes. As all small fish stem from capture fisheries, sustainable one health environmental integration, monitoring and management strategies are desirable.
RESULTS: We found hemoparasites in only two of 19 species sampled. Among them, all species that consume at least one food item known for its secondary metabolites with antimalarial, trypanocidal or general antiparasitic properties, were free from hemoparasites. In contrast, the infected parrots do not consume food items with antimalarial or even general antiparasitic properties. We found that the two infected species in this study consumed omnivorous diets. When we combined our data with data from studies previously investigating blood parasites in wild parrots, the positive relationship between omnivorous diets and hemoparasite infestation was confirmed. Individuals from open habitats were less infected than those from forests.
CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of food items known for their secondary metabolites with antimalarial, trypanocidal or general antiparasitic properties, as well as the higher proportion of infected species among omnivorous parrots, could explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites reported in many vertebrates.
METHODS: A total of 300 day old male broiler chicks were assigned to four dietary n-3 PUFA ascending levels as the treatment groups (T1: 0.5; T2: 8.0; T3: 11.5; T4: 16.5) using combinations of tuna oil and sunflower oil. All diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. On day 28, all birds were challenged with IBD virus. Antibody titer, cytokine production, bursa lesion pre and post-challenge and lymphoid organ weight were recorded.
RESULTS: On d 42 the highest body weight was observed in the T2 and T3 and the lowest in T4 chickens. Feed conversion ratio of the T2 broilers was significantly better than the other groups. Although productive parameters were not responded to the dietary n-3 PUFA in a dose-dependent manner, spleen weight, IBD and Newcastle disease antibody titers and IL-2 and IFN-γ concentrations were constantly elevated by n-3 PUFA enrichment.
CONCLUSIONS: Dietary n-3 PUFA enrichment may improve the immune response and IBD resistance, but the optimum performance does not coincide with the optimum immune response. It seems that dietary n-3 PUFA modulates the broiler chicken performance and immune response in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, a moderate level of dietary n-3 PUFA enrichment may help to put together the efficiency of performance and relative immune response enhancement in broiler chickens.