SALT LAKE CITY — In Africa, death is cheated when small children are given a tiny zinc pill to stop diarrhea. And iodine in the irrigation water drastically reduces cases of mental retardation in western China.
Those solutions and others to very real, sometimes deadly children's health problems can be traced back to Salt Lake City, where the significant but largely unheralded Thrasher Research Fund helps turn a scientist's theory into a life-changer for kids around the world.
Many of the world's health findings are built on a foundation laid by early research funded with Thrasher grants. Today, Thrasher grants are helping researchers develop a better diagnostic test for fragile X syndrome, a chromosome defect that causes mental retardation. They are funding study of whether donated human breast milk will improve brain development outcomes in very low birthweight babies. And Thrasher's footing the bill to determine at what point a high Body Mass Index in children and adolescents translates to high blood pressure.
"We're all about supporting efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat children's diseases," says Justin Brown, a research manager for the fund. Thrasher, he notes, is one brick in the vast body of medical research. "There's not one study that changed everything. It's a lot of studies and hard work by a lot of people. We are fortunate to be part of it."
Ask Aaron Pontsler, also a research manager, what makes him proud and he has a ready answer: "We were among the strongest early advocates for exclusive breastfeeding for mothers and babies. Now it's a World Health Organization recommendation that has saved millions of children around the world. Breastfeeding provides complete nutrition for children, and helps prevent infection and boost cognitive development."
Because they're seeking answers to problems in even the most impoverished corners of the world, the research they fund emphasizes solutions that require little in the way of overcoming financial and technical barriers.
The fund was established by the late E.W. "Al" Thrasher in the 1970s. He had begun to work to boost his family income as a little boy and by the time he was 14, he was cutting cordwood and learning all about the lumber business. His credits include creating a research facility focused on improving lumber recovery, among other innovations. His inventions have reduced waste by more than 30 percent, industrywide.
Nearly 40 years ago, Thrasher donated 2,034 acres of land rich with second-growth redwoods for medical research. It sold for close to $14 million a few years later and that provided the initial funding for the Thrasher Research Fund, focused on pediatric medical research. The early grants went to biomedical research and as the funding base grew, the fund ventured into international research. To date, more than $75 million in grants has been awarded. There are usually about 175 active grants with about 30 new each year and another 30 smaller grants meant for early-career researchers.
The fund was initially established at Primary Children's Medical Center, but became independent when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints divested itself of its hospitals. The church provides in-kind support for the fund in the form of office space and some amenities. The award process is independent with lots of project peer review by experts.
The research sometimes has life and death potential. For instance, mothers who are HIV-positive in America do not breastfeed their babies, but in Africa and South Asia, where no formula is available, they have no choice. So Dean Byrd, president of Thrasher Research Fund, says a grant paid to see if there was a way to keep nutrients intact while killing the virus. "We know now it works and it can be done."
In the United States, researchers with Thrasher backing are studying vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy. Says Pontsler, "if you raise vitamin D levels relatively high (30 mg/ml), it is safe and effective in reducing preterm preeclampsia. And it boosts the immune system the first few months, as well."
Much of the funded research is into simple, absolutely doable changes that cost little or nothing. One study, for example, looked at whether clamping the umbilical cord two minutes later than is normal practice would improve the iron status of infants in some parts of the world.
In Bangladesh, women can fold their sari cloth four times a certain way to filter water and trap the debris that cholera attaches to, reducing its deadly incidence. That knowledge came through research Thrasher funded.
Megan Duncan, another research manager, talks about 10 million deaths of children younger than 5 each year, about 4 million of them preemies. More than a third of those deaths are caused by infection. In Asia and parts of Africa, it is common practice to massage a newborn with mustard oil. One research project looked at what happens if, instead, they rub the baby with sunflower seed oil, readily available at a cost of about 20 cents a bottle.
The oil is a liquid barrier that doesn't let the bacteria in as readily. Infections fell by 40 percent. And as a side outcome, massage is known to improve babies' fine motor skills and cognitive reaction.
e-mail: lois@desnews.com