No abstract

Iron supplementation significantly improves iron status and reduces morbidity from URTIs in children with or without infection.

Folic acid deficiency is implicated in the aetiology of nutritional anaemia and adverse pregnancy outcomes for the fetus. Data on folic acid status among adolescent girls and non-pregnant, non-lactating young women are limited. We assessed folic acid status in a random sample of 552 subjects (277 adolescent girls aged 15-18·9 years and 275 women aged 19-30 years) living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The association of low folic acid status with anaemia was evaluated. Socio-economic, food intake and anthropometric data were obtained. Hb, serum folic acid, vitamin B 12 and ferritin and plasma homocysteine concentrations were measured. Forty-three per cent of subjects studied had low serum folic acid concentrations (,3 ng/ml) and 47 % had low Fe stores (serum ferritin ,20 mg/l). Overall prevalence of anaemia was 12·9 %, and 43·9 % of anaemic subjects had both low folic acid status and depleted Fe stores (serum ferritin ,12 mg/l). Both low folate status and depleted Fe stores were significantly associated with anaemia (odds ratio ¼ 2·32; 95 % CI 1·34, 4·01 and odds ratio ¼ 5·98; 95 % CI 3·36, 10·63, respectively). Serum folic acid concentration was associated (r ¼ 0·108, P¼ 0·015) with folate intake as indicated by a computed folate index. Folate index was associated inversely with household size and positively with economic status and education level. In this study population low folic acid status, besides depleted Fe stores, was associated with anaemia. The high prevalence of low folic acid status observed highlights the need for nutrition education to improve intakes of folate, Fe and other micronutrients among adolescent girls and young women.

Accuracy and precision of a combination PSEA is convincing, enabling inclusion into an Asian food atlas for dietary assessment and intervention.

Objectives No data exists for nutritional status of female adolescent school dropouts despite one in seven adolescent girls in Sri Lanka being an early school leaver. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of working and non-working female adolescent school dropouts. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to recruit 613 female adolescent school dropouts, aged 15-19 years, in two districts of the Western Province of Sri Lanka. BMI was calculated by assessment of weight and height. Haemoglobin, serum ferritin, serum folic acid, vitamin B12, and serum zinc were measured. Results When girls were grouped into age specific BMI categories, 32.8% of girls were underweight, while 6.1% were overweight. Prevalence of anaemia (haemoglobin <120 g/l) in the study population was 17 %. Low iron status (serum ferritin <20 μg/l) was noted in 29.4 % of girls, low serum folate in 28% (folic acid <3 μg/l) and zinc deficiency in 28.8% (zinc <66 μg/dl). Regression modeling indicated that dropping out of school early (at <14 years of age) was a significant risk factor for low serum ferritin (p=0.001, odds ratio=2.1). Working adolescents were at greater risk of low micronutrient status: low serum ferritin (p=0.009; odds ratio=1.8) serum folic acid (p=0.006; odds ratio=1.9) and zinc deficiency (p=0.001; odds ratio=2.1) than non-working adolescents.

No abstract

The use of flour fortified with 66 mg/kg of electrolytic or reduced iron to reduce the prevalence of anemia was determined in a two-year, double-blind, controlled trial. The trial was conducted in Sri Lanka among preschoolers between 9 and 71 months old, primary schoolers 6 to 11 years old, and nonpregnant women. At baseline, 18.4% of the preschoolers had low hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations. Neither electrolytic nor reduced iron had an effect on Hb concentration among preschoolers. Only 7% of the primary schoolers were anemic at the start of the trial and, again, fortification had no effect on Hb concentration. Twenty-nine percent of women had a low Hb at outset and there was no evidence that fortification had an effect on Hb in this group. The findings from this study suggest that fortification of flour with electrolytic iron or reduced iron was not beneficial in reducing anemia in this population. This was probably due to the low prevalence of anemia and low bioavailability of the fortificant iron. Fortification with either iron fortificant was acceptable.

Summary.-Serum vitamin A concentrations were measured in 26 newly diagnosed lung -cancer patients and found to be significantlv lower than those of patients of similar age with either non-malignant lung or non-lung diseases. The levels of vitamin A in the lung-cancer patients, but not in the controls, were significantly correlated with serum concentrations of retinol-binding protein (RBP) and zinc. It is suggested that low levels of zinc might reduce the synthesis of RBP and thus reduce the mobilization of vitamin A from the liver.