Abstract

Iron deficiency anemia is a major public health problem in India widely prevalent among children. The present study was aimed to reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia and also to improve the immune status, school performance through dietary supplementation with micronutrient rich foods (wheat germ, rice flakes, gingelly seeds, microwave oven dehydrated carrot powder, jaggery).The present study was conducted on children in the age group of 7 - 9 years (N: 1675) from primary corporation school located in the urban areas of Chennai district. Out of 1675 children, 1151(68.7%) children had exclusive signs and symptoms of anemia. The blood hemoglobin levels revealed that 662 children were moderately anemic and the remaining 15 and 74 children showed severe and mild signs and symptoms of anemia respectively. Out of 662 children who were moderately anemic, 150 children were randomly selected for the supplementation study. They were further divided into three groups of 50 children each to receive the food based supplement (Micronutrient rich balls), synthetic supplement (Riconia tablet, a micronutrient fortified tablet) and the third group constituted the control group. The supplementation study was for a period of six months. The impact of supplementation was studied initially and at the end of 6 months in terms of anthropometric measurements, morbidity pattern, dietary assessment and biochemical analysis. The results revealed that, supplementation in the food form resulted in significant improvement in the parameters studied. The findings of this research leads to the conclusion beyond doubt that the food based approach will serve as an effective strategy to combat deficiencies and to promote health and well being of the children and ensure global security.

Key words: Childhood malnutrition, blood hemoglobin, serum retinol, serum zinc, immune profile.