Changes in hormonal regulation are important for the adaptation of the malnourished child. Because of the increasing incidence of malnutrition in our country, we have studied hGH, IGF-1, TSH, free T4, free T3, and morning and evening cortisol and insulin concentrations on admission (AD) and on days 15, 30, and 60 of nutritional intervention in 20 severely malnourished children(13 with kwashiorkor (K) and 7 with marasmic kwashiorkor (MK), according to Mc Laren score. Hormone levels were measured by commercial immunoassays. Ages were between 1 and 43 months (mean±SD=14.9±9.7 months). Average weight for age Z score (±SEM) was -3.6±0.5 on admission and-0.9±0.4 on day 60 (p<0.001). Mean (±SEM) serum albumin progressively increased from 2.17±0.19 gm/dL on AD to 3.6±0.1 gm/dL on day 60 (p<0.001). Basal hGH mean values decreased from 13.4±2.8 ng/mL on AD to 2.8±0.8 on day 60. IGF-1 increased from 54.5±10.49 ng/mL on AD to 96.6±27.9 on day 60 (p<0.05). TSH, fT3 and fT4 did not consistently change during recovery. Morning and afternoon insulin levels increased and cortisol decreased significantly after day 30. On AD albumin was significantly lower in K than MK (p<0.05) but there were no differences in any of the hormonal parameters between the two groups. These data are consistent with the abnormalities cited in association with severe infantile malnutrition from other countries.