Infancy and childhood are the periods at risk for diseases that require the most protection. The period between zero and one years of age is called "infancy" and the period from infancy to adolescence is called "childhood" (Bayar, 2019).
Progressive developmental changes associated with the growth of organs and maturation of their functions, in short, growth. and development is very important during childhood and infancy. In this process, the disease negatively affects the health of children and babies, which makes inpatient or outpatient treatment and the use of medication inevitable. Considering patient safety, drug administration has an important place during the disease, but due to physiological structure differences in infants and children, drug administration is much more risky than in normal adults (Çalışır, 2020).
The liver is responsible for converting drugs into harmless metabolites and eliminating toxicity. The activities of these enzymes, which play a role in drug metabolism in children aged 1-6 and especially in newborns, are lower than in adults. The kidney, another organ responsible for drug metabolism, is not sufficiently developed, especially in babies, and can reach adult levels 6-12 months after birth (Bayar, 2019). Another factor affecting drug metabolism in infants and children is the small intestinal absorption surface area and short intestinal transit time, which may indicate delayed drug absorption. Stomach pH, which decreases until the age of 2, is also one of the gastrointestinal system factors that affects drug metabolism (Çalışır, 2020). Newborns have a higher amount of body fluid and a lower amount of fat and muscle tissue than children and adults (Bayar, 2019). This may lead to differences in drug distribution. All of these affect drug distribution and drug metabolism, as well as indirectly affect food-drug interactions. In case of a possible food-drug interaction, infants and children are at greater risk than adults due to these physiological differences. Another risk in this group of patients is that difficulties with drug administration may reduce the effect of the treatment, while also interacting with food. It poses a risk for both treatment and nutritional deficiency. Nutrient deficiencies can cause different problems. For example, the use of psychiatric drugs such as valproic acid and lithium in adolescents and children changes the bioavailability of nutrients. Additionally, the use of antiepileptics such as carbamazepine and fentoin causes a decrease in folic acid levels. It is known that folic acid deficiency causes a decrease in verbal memory skills (Çorum,2016).
Physiological differences must be taken into consideration when calculating drug doses to be administered to babies and children and examining drug-food interactions (Aksoy,2016).
In order to fully capture growth and development during the disease, how the food-drug interaction may affect growth and development should be taken into consideration. Changing body composition depending on nutritional status and growth will have an impact on drug action, metabolism and excretion (Aksoy, 2016). Therefore, it is very important to follow the food-drug interaction in children and how it affects growth (Aksoy, 2016).
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