Annales 79.1 - Pediatric issues in time of pandemia: From infection to nutritional strategies

The pandemic has made good nutrition more important, and also harder to achieve. Breastfeeding supports the infant immune system and has benefits for maternal mental health, but the pandemic has restricted support for new mothers and increased early termination of breastfeeding. Vaccination against COVID-19 has minimal impact on lactation or adverse impacts on infants, although an initial lack of clinical data has made many mothers hesitate to accept vaccination. The pandemic severely disrupted food supply chains in many countries, with severe impacts in low- and middle- income countries where malnutrition is prevalent. Increased rates of stunting, wasting and child death in these countries must be addressed through far-reaching, multi-sectoral approaches. Evidence indicates that LCPUFAs could help prevent and manage respiratory tract infections, but evidence is still needed to support their role in COVID-19 respiratory infections.

This issue of Annales “Pediatric issues in time of pandemia: from infection to nutritional strategies” approaches the challenges of breastfeeding and tackling protein calorie malnutrition during the pandemia as two out of many nutritional challenges brought by this crisis. As immunity and nutrition were always interrelated, we close this issue with a review on the relationship between LCPUFA and respiratory infections.