Objective: To investigate the prevalence of iron deficiency among schoolchildren of different socio-economic status (SES), living in the three largest cities of Turkey. Design: Cross-sectional study. Settings: Primary schools of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Subjects: Schoolchildren aged 12 and 13 y (males: 504; females: 510) from nine primary schools. Inclusion of subjects in the study was on a voluntary basis. Methods: Data were obtained on children SES, anthropometry, haematological and biochemical indices of iron status and consumption of food items related to dietary iron bioavailability. One-way analysis of variance was mainly applied, for the evaluation of the tested hypotheses, using Bonferroni correction in order to take into account the inflation of Type I error. Results: Iron deficiency (serum ferritin o15 mg/l) prevalence was 17.5% among boys and 20.8% among girls. Furthermore, iron deficiency was significantly more prevalent among boys of lower SES, who were also found to have significantly lower levels of serum iron, serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration compared to those of higher SES. In terms of dietary factors affecting iron bioavailability, low SES boys exhibited significantly higher frequency of tea consumption and lower frequency of citrus fruit, red meat and fish consumption, compared to their higher SES counterparts. Conclusion: The prevalence of iron deficiency was relatively high, particularly among lower SES schoolboys. Higher tea and lower citrus fruits, red meat and fish consumption by boys of lower SES may provide an indication about the possible role of certain dietary patterns in the different manifestation of this medical condition among the socio-economic groups. However, further research is needed.

The present research represents a further contribution to the available literature about the analytical composition of primitive wheats, including the complete range of relevant bioactives and lesser investigated species. The data do not support an overall superiority of primitive forms, but evidenced interesting, potentially exploitable, between- and within-species variability.

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This paper represented the first cross-country comparison of local kale accessions with respect to bioactive compound amounts. Both geographic origin and growing environment appeared to be remarkable and discriminating factors in determining bioactive levels in leafy kales, with possible effects on their health-promoting and sensorial attributes.

Background: It is widely accepted that the development of atherosclerosis starts at an early age. However, there are very few studies evaluating the prevalence of the common clinical and behavioral cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among children, especially in developing countries. The aim of the present cross-sectional survey was to evaluate the distribution of blood lipid profile and various behavioral (i.e. dietary habits, physical activity status) factors related to CVD risk and its relationships to paternal (PEL) and maternal educational level (MEL) among primary schoolchildren in Turkey.