The smell of acetone in children: causes, symptoms, treatment

Why does acetone form in the body?

First, you need to understand exactly how this acetone appears in the body. The fact is that any person needs energy to maintain his life. It receives most of this energy from the breakdown of glucose.

When the already small supply of glucose in the child’s body runs out, it is the turn of the next source - glycogen, which is found mainly in muscle and liver cells. When this source becomes obsolete, the body moves on to the next and final source – fats. It is during the breakdown of fats that a metabolic product such as acetone is formed.

If this substance appears in small quantities, then the human body is quite capable of utilizing it. If somehow a “failure” happens and there are too many ketone bodies, then it becomes not so easy to remove them naturally, and they begin to be excreted by the lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc.

Common causes of acetone odor in children

Most often, a child’s breath smells like acetone due to the following reasons:

poor diet;
diabetes mellitus;
various pathologies of the thyroid gland;
fasting;
dehydration;
physical or mental fatigue;
various stressful situations;
the presence of pathologies of ENT organs;
ARVI, influenza and other infectious diseases;
intestinal infections;
defective liver or kidney function;
injuries received;
genetic predisposition.

If we are talking about the smell of acetone coming from a baby’s mouth, then this is often due to metabolic disorders, which happens when the baby adapts to the environment. However, all the other reasons outlined above cannot also be excluded.

Treatment

Whether in a child under one year old or in a teenager, diseases that provoke acetonemic syndrome must be diagnosed and treated immediately. Monitor your baby's nutrition and focus on the right foods. The patient should eat in small portions, but often. There should be no irritants to the mucous membranes in food, as well as animal fats. An excellent prevention would be to reduce the level of fatigue; in the evening, games should be calm, not too active, so as not to excite the nervous system.

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If the patient stays at home, he should be given sweet tea or a carbohydrate drink. The patient should drink clean water often, because during vomiting the body is deprived of a large amount of fluid. If you want to eat, you can feed your baby a small portion of light food. Drug treatment involves sorbents and antispasmodics. Colon lavage helps reduce temperature and the level of acetone odor. If vomiting or unpleasant discharge does not stop, the parent should call an ambulance or consult a doctor so as not to worsen the problem.

The appearance of the smell of acetone due to improper nutrition

This phenomenon does not always occur as a result of any serious disease or pathology. Sometimes the cause of this may be an unbalanced or excessively poor diet. After all, if the body receives carbohydrates in insufficient quantities, then it has nowhere to get glucose from to obtain energy. That is why he immediately “takes on” fats, the primary sources of acetone.

Often, the cause of an increased concentration of ketones in a child’s body can be the abuse of “adult”, harmful foods: smoked meats, sweets, fried and spicy foods. Thus, it is very difficult for the baby’s organs and systems to digest and assimilate such products.

Due to excessive load, a “failure” can occur:

the pancreas, which takes a vital part in the regulation of protein, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, but which has to work much more actively and secrete more enzymes to digest “difficult” foods;
the liver, which, in fact, is responsible for removing harmful substances and toxins from the body;
an intestine that does not cope with “heavy” foods in a timely manner, as a result of which excessive fermentation processes and disturbances in the absorption of carbohydrates may occur.

The appearance of acetone odor in diabetes mellitus

One of the most common reasons for the formation of large amounts of acetone in a child’s body is diabetes. After all, as far as we know, with this disease, the pancreas produces an insufficient amount of the hormone insulin, which promotes the penetration of glucose into the body's cells and directly inhibits the activity of enzymes that break down fats to produce energy.

In the presence of diabetes mellitus, the appearance of a characteristic odor from the mouth may indicate the possible occurrence of such a dangerous phenomenon as diabetic ketoacidosis, which, in the absence of timely help, can cause diabetic ketoacidotic coma.

Which coma is characterized by breathing with acetone?

Excess acetone in the bloodstream has a pronounced toxic effect on the nervous system; in severe cases, a coma can develop.

In which coma can you smell acetone?

Most often, acetone breath odor in unconscious adults is a manifestation of diabetes and diabetic ketoacidotic coma. Blood sugar in such patients is much higher than normal.
The smell in children without diabetes is characteristic of acetonemic coma, while glycemia is normal or slightly reduced. If the sugar is very high, the child is diagnosed with the onset of diabetes mellitus and ketoacidotic coma.
In a hypoglycemic coma, there is no bad breath, but acetone can be detected in the urine if the patient has recently had ketoacidosis.

Self-determination of acetone levels

Today, there are special tests on the market that make it possible to independently determine at home whether your child suffers from an excess of ketones.

The most common of them are: Uriket, Norma, Acetontest and others. In order to carry out such a test, you need to collect a small amount of children's urine in a separate container and place a test strip purchased at the pharmacy there to a certain line.

Depending on the amount of ketones in the urine (and it is with this that they begin to be released when there is an excess), the strip will change its color, which you can compare with the color scale on the package and find out the result (read more about “acetone in the baby’s urine”).

Diagnostic measures

Let's look at this aspect in more detail. How to understand why a child’s breath smells like acetone? The reasons may vary. Depending on the pathology that caused this condition, treatment methods also vary. Therefore, diagnosis is one of the most important stages.

If alarming symptoms appear, you should immediately contact a qualified pediatrician. The doctor will examine the child and prescribe additional tests and examinations. This:

Analysis of urine;
blood test for glucose levels;
OAM, UAC;
stool examination to determine worm eggs;
blood test for biochemistry and TSH.

If one of the possible causes of this condition is endocrine pathology, ultrasound diagnostics and x-rays will also be required to examine the thyroid gland.

The presence of acetone in urine can be determined at home. To do this, you need to purchase special test strips at the pharmacy. The urine is collected in a container, and then the test strip is dipped into it. After some time, you will only need to compare the color of the strip with that indicated on the package. If the color becomes saturated, it means there is an excess of ketone bodies in the body. To obtain an objective result, the test should be carried out in full accordance with the instructions.

Genetic predisposition to acetonomy

Sometimes the cause of a characteristic sour breath odor in a baby may be a congenital predisposition to acetonomy. Thus, due to the genetic characteristics of such children, an increase in the level of acetone is a kind of protective reaction of the body to any aggressors, for example, infections.

This is explained by the fact that, as a rule, in children prone to acetonomy, the blood sugar level is at the very bottom of the norm, and during any kind of “attack”, the available glucose is not enough to activate the “defensive forces”, so the body urgently you have to resort to fat.

Diagnosis of acetone syndrome

Acetonemic syndrome is detected exclusively in children under 12 years of age. Its diagnosis is made through a medical examination. In order to make a conclusion, the doctor simultaneously studies the laboratory tests performed, as well as the patient’s complaints and medical history.

Important! When diagnosing acetone syndrome, it is important to pay attention to those tests that show insignificant deviations from the norm.

If acetone syndrome is suspected, the doctor conducts a general examination of the child. Children with this disorder experience a malfunction of the cardiovascular system: weakened heart sounds, tachycardia, arrhythmia. The skin is dry, skin turgor is reduced, there is an increase in the size of the liver, and a decrease in the volume of urine excreted. The urine itself acquires a characteristic acetone odor.

Laboratory tests help determine why the smell of acetone appears from the mouth of an infant. Clinical analysis indicates acetone in the child’s blood, with an increase in the number of leukocytes, neutrophils, and an increase in ESR. Ketone bodies are present in large quantities in the urine (ketonuria). Blood biochemistry shows:

changes in sodium and potassium concentrations;
increased urea levels;
decrease in glucose levels.

When does a child outgrow acetone syndrome?

Acetonemia is a phenomenon that often occurs among children due to the fact that they:

Traditional methods

Are they effective? You can also eliminate the smell of acetone in children using folk remedies. However, it is worth considering that such therapy only helps to get rid of symptoms. The disease that caused this manifestation should be treated using traditional methods.

Below are some of the most common recipes for eliminating the unpleasant odor of acetone from the mouth of children.

Chamomile tea: helps remove the slight smell of acetone. The product should be consumed several times a day, little by little, a teaspoon at a time, so as not to cause vomiting.
Mint infusion: helps eliminate even a strong chemical smell. The leaves of the plant should be poured with boiling water for some time and left to infuse. You need to rinse your mouth with the resulting product several times throughout the day.
A drink made from lingonberries or cranberries: this fruit drink will improve metabolic processes and help get rid of bad breath.
Sorrel decoction: helps mask the smell of acetone. The leaves of the plant should be boiled for 20 minutes.

These folk remedies are natural and absolutely safe for health. However, they are unlikely to be effective for the treatment of severe pathologies. Therefore, they should not be used as the only treatment method.

Prevention

Preventative measures that can prevent this unpleasant phenomenon can be:

balanced and timely nutrition (with the proper amount of carbohydrates);
protecting the child from excessive stress and stressful situations;
strengthening the baby’s body by taking vitamins, hardening, etc. to avoid rapid fatigue and inability to perform normal exercise;
additional support for the liver, kidneys, intestines and other organs when taking medications that may negatively affect their function.