Acetylator status of kwashiorkor children in Ibadan (south-west Nigeria).

Acetylator status was determined in 25 kwashiorkor children, aged between 8 months and 3 years and in 25 age-matched control group of healthy children after a single oral dose of sulphamethazine (40 mg/kg body weight) and by measuring the acetylated sulphamethazine in blood samples, collected 6 h after the administration of sulphamethazine. The percentage of slow acetylators among kwashiorkor children was 40% while among the control group of children it was 48%. The difference between the two groups was not significant. Therefore, it is probable that the slow acetylator status of the Nigerian African children may not be a contributing factor for the development of kwashiorkor, a syndrome of protein-energy malnutrition. Furthermore, the polymorphic activity of N-acetyl transferase enzyme may not be impaired in kwashiorkor.