Better nutrition can cut risk of TB deaths by 60%, Indian study finds

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Large-scale field trials that provided healthy food packages to sufferers and their families showed radical reductions in fatalities

in India has found that improved nutrition can cut the risk of death by 60% and reduce the chances of infection within families by about 40%.

Dr Anurag Bhargava, a physician and epidemiologist at Yenepoya Medical College in Mangalore, said that while earlier, smaller studies had indicated a link between better nutrition and reduced mortality, the results were not conclusive. TB patients received a monthly 10kg food basket consisting of rice, milk powder, oil, pulses and multivitamins, which, along with their regular TB drugs, saw treatment rates improve. The trial found that a 5% weight gain from the food basket in the first two months of treatment reduced the chance of death by 60%.

The couple said early intervention to improve nutrition is important as many TB patients die in the two months after contracting the disease. Many experts assume weight gain is a natural result of TB treatment, but this may not happen in areas of food insecurity, as seen in aEven during the Covid pandemic, field workers were able to reach TB patients in remote villages to ensure they got their nutrition parcels.

 

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