Update on common indicators of nutritional status: food access, food consumption, and biochemical measures of iron and anemia

Abstract

This paper presents some of the most commonly utilized indicators to assess food and nutritional status. With respect to the indicators reflecting food access, those addressing poverty as well as food consumption are included. In addition, a variety of serum biochemical measures for the estimation of iron nutritional status and anemia are discussed; it is recommended that some of these be adjusted to account for sex, age, physiological status, and altitude above sea level.

Prevalencia de anemia y factores asociados en adultos mayores peruanos

“…Con frecuencia la anemia tiende a ser subdiagnosticada debido a la coexistencia con alguna enfermedad (9) . Las causas de la anemia en los adultos mayores pueden ser clasificadas en tres categorías: deficiencia de la ingesta de hierro en la dieta, anemia asociada a enfermedades renales crónicas y la anemia no explicada (10) . Esta última se atribuye a la disminución de los niveles de hemoglobina, posiblemente por la respuesta eritropoyética en la deficiencia de hierro; altos niveles de citoquinas proinflamatorias; la disminución de los niveles de andrógenos, y disminución proliferativa y regenerativa de las células de la médula ósea, mielodisplasia que está asociada con la disminución de la expectativa de vida (11) .…”

On the Composite Indicators for Food Security: Decisions Matter!

“…In this case, an efficient strategy to improve the ranking position would be to improve sectors related to the lowest scores. The opposite is true if a linear aggregation is adopted (33) .…”

Reconciling the Irreconcilable: Micronutrients in Clinical Nutrition and Public Health

“…Dealing with short-latency deficiency diseases is in principle relatively straightforward, the main difficulties usually being establishing the deficiencies at the population level. Recent, nationally representative studies in Indonesia and Malaysia reported vitamin D deficiency (using the cutoff of 50 nmol/L; 20 ng/mL) in over 60% of girls 7-12 years old [17][18][19], which had never been measured before. Fortification has proven to be an effective way to increase intakes of selected nutrients in both developed and developing countries [9], although sub-optimal data is often found in estimating population deficiencies and food intakes of potentially fortified foods.…”