HIAS II - Study of Nutritional Supplementation in Hospitalized Children With Persistent Diarrhea or Malnutrition

Inclusion Criteria: Children ages 3 to 36 months with a history of persistent diarrhea (3 or more unformed stools/day) for >2 weeks or height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) less than negative 1, which is the median of HAZ score in children at HIAS. Be an inpatient and willing to stay for 7 nights at HIAS. Child´s parent or guardian must sign informed consent.. Exclusion Criteria: Children exclusively breast-fed (Reason: The diet needs to be controlled in order to evaluate the study treatment effect) Children who participated in the community study or any other study within the past two years (Reason: The children in the community study will have received glutamine.) Children with suspected other illnesses as indicated by fever >102º F at time of screening off antipyretics Children with suspected systemic disease at the time of screening including but not limited to shock, meningitis, sepsis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, varicella Severe malnutrition defined as HAZ <-3 or WAZ <-3.5 or any child weighing <10 lbs. (4.5 kg) or any child with a weight-to-height ratio <60% of the NCHS age adjusted norm.