AID grant to Instituto de Investigacion Nutricional (IIN) to carry out a research project on the use of bioelectrical impedance to measure malnutrition and dehydration

The study will test the hypothesis that bioelectrical impedance, by measuring total body water (TBW), can be used to: (1) monitor the success or failure of oral rehydration therapy in children with acute diarrhea (including the development of tables for estimating changes in hydrational status and other tables to test a method for making a single point evaluation of the degree of dehydration); and (2) estimate body fat (and therefore caloric reserve and nutritional status) more precisely than other measures available in developing countries. IIN will collaborate with the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and Johns Hopkins University in conducting the study, which will involve tests of some 160 children.