Amebiasis: nutritional implications

Abstract

Studies on the role of nutrition in amebiasis in humans and experimental animals are meager. Some reports suggest that malnutrition of the host increases the incidence of infection and potentiates the severity of the disease. Others suggest that malnutrition protects the host against invasion. A few reports indicate that dietary regimens can alleviate symptoms and even eradicate the parasite. Others doubt a correlation between diet and rate of infection or disease manifestations. The problem is complex because the ameba is influenced by its own diet, which in turn depends on the host's diet, the bacterial flora of the gut, and coexisting infections. The host is variously altered by dietary depletions and supplementations, which affect susceptibility and resistance, and by the presence of other disease conditions. Carefully designed and executed studies of infections in humans and experimental animals, combined with studies in vitro of the nutritional requirements and physiology of the parasite, are needed for definition of the influence of host nutrition in amebiasis.