Table 3.
Mean age-adjusted (scaled) performance on cognitive tests by treatment group. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of zinc, vitamin A, and glutamine supplementation in Brazilian shanty-town children from Fortaleza, CE, northeastern Brazil, during June 2000-August 2004, with follow-up between June 2000 and December 2007.
| Cognitive Tests | Placebo (n = 25) | Glutamine (n = 23) | Zinc (n = 18) | Vitamin A (n = 19) | Glutamine+Zinc (n = 20) | Glutamine+Vitamin A (n = 21) | Zinc+Vitamin A (n = 23) | Glutamine+Zinc+Vitamin A (n = 18) |
| IQ | 79.1±9.12 | 81.8±7.76 | 79.9±6.92 | 82.2±5.87 | 80.4±8.05 | 81.91±7.12 | 82.5±9.94 | 82.1±9.78 |
| Coding | 9.45±3.51 | 10.4±3.13 | 9.67±3.66 | 9.84±3.15 | 9.75±3.17 | 9.71±3.78 | 9.78±4.17 | 10.8±3.38 |
| Verbal Learning | 7.28±3.34 | 8.43±2.41 | 7.61±2.40 | 8.74±2.47 | 8.15±2.83 | 7.9±2.77 | 7.57±2.81 | 9.28±3.41** |
| Delayed Verbal Learning | 8.20±2.69 | 7.78±1.57 | 8.00±1.88 | 7.79±2.22 | 8.35±2.08 | 8.71±2.43 | 8.52±2.64 | 8.11±3.08 |
| Verbal Fluency | 6.22±2.70 | 6.67±2.67 | 7.11±3.59 | 5.74±2.35 | 5.95±2.81 | 6.75±2.65 | 6.36±2.95 | 7.33±2.63 |
| NEPSY Verbal Fluency Subtest Z-scores*) | ||||||||
| Semantic Fluency | -1.17±0.84 | -0.63±0.78 | -0.43±0.82 | -1.15±0.49 | -0.63±0.86 | -0.36±0.94 | -0.82±0.73 | -1.24±1.38 |
| Phonetic Fluency | -1.38±0.67 | -1.48±0.71 | -1.04±1.19 | -1.56±0.80 | -1.49±0.70 | -1.18±0.88 | -1.54±0.87 | -1.14±0.83 |
*
Children aged 6-12 years old only; **Comparison of Combination Glutamine+Zinc+Vitamin A versus placebo, p = 0.02.
IQ = intelligence quotient.
NEPSY = A developmental neuropsychological assessment.