Nutrition And TB Linkage : Lancet Study
New studies published in The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health journals provide evidence that improved nutrition can significantly reduce tuberculosis (TB) incidence and mortality in India.
- The Reducing Activation of Tuberculosis by Improvement of Nutritional Status (RATIONS) trial conducted in Jharkhand (the state has a high TB burden) revealed:
- Better nutrition among patients with lung TB can lead to a 40% reduction in all forms of TB and a nearly 50% reduction in infectious TB
- Underweight TB patients who experience early weight gain can have their risk of mortality reduced by 60%.
- Nearly 30 households would need to be provided nutritional supplementation to prevent one case of TB
- The trials’ findings are particularly significant as undernutrition has emerged as a leading risk factor for TB worldwide.
- These results could have policy implications and contribute to India’s goal of eliminating TB by 2025
- Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It primarily affects the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body.
- As per the WHO Global TB Report 2022: India’s TB incidence for the year 2021 is 210 per 100,000 population (a decline of over 18% from 2020)
- India has a large burden of the world’s TB, with an estimated economic cost of US$100 million lost annually due to this disease.
- As per the WHO Global TB Report 2022, TB cases are attributable to five risk factors — undernourishment, HIV infection, alcohol use disorders, smoking and diabetes.
