A Survey to Assess the Efficacy and Tolerability of Natural Appetite Stimulants in Pediatric Patients

Abstract

Anorexia, a common symptom in children, leads to undernutrition, with over 60 million underweight children in India suffering from frequent illnesses. Lack of adequate diet, proper breastfeeding and sufficient protein contribute to increased incidence of undernutrition. Parents often complain their children don't eat enough, making mealtimes difficult and impeding growth. Appetite stimulants like cyproheptadine are available, but side effects like sedation, fatigue, disorientation, impaired coordination, restlessness, excitation and irritability limit their use especially in the pediatric population. The use of herbal supplements has increased worldwide, with parents seeking guidance from pediatricians and primary care professionals regarding the efficacy and safety of these products. The study was a retrospective study conducted via a questionnaire-based survey among all doctors between April and June 2023 to assess the efficacy and tolerability of natural appetite stimulants in pediatric patients. Results showed that patients in the age group of 0 to 5 years (23.1%) were the most common visitors in the doctor’s clinic and appetite stimulant agents were being prescribed most of the time (44.8%). They preferred prescribing natural appetite stimulant mostly (34.3%) for poor appetite (37.3%), followed by poor weight gain and growth (22.8%). The natural appetizer was found to nonaddictive and nonsedative with an improvement in the overall well-being (31.3%) among patients. The results suggest that the natural intervention has the potential to serve as a valuable adjunctive therapy in managing appetite challenges and promoting healthy weight gain in pediatric populations and to optimize pediatricnutrition and overall well-being.