Vegetarians who eat a varied and well balanced diet are not at any greater risk of iron deficiency anaemia than non-vegetarians. A diet rich in wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, iron-fortified cereals and green leafy vegetables provides an adequate iron intake. Vitamin C and other organic acids enhance non-haem iron absorption, a process that is carefully regulated by the gut. Pe...

BACKGROUND Schoolchildren are vulnerable to anaemia because of their higher iron need to meet the demands of puberty and adolescence. OBJECTIVE The survey determined the haemoglobin levels of schoolchildren aged 6-15 years and the factors affecting their haemoglobin status. DESIGN Data were obtained through a cross sectional survey of 450 randomly selected schoolchildren in Ede-Oballa, Nsuk...

BACKGROUND Iron deficiency anaemia is a worldwide health problem in which environmental, physiologic and genetic factors play important roles. The associations between iron status biomarkers and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) known to be related to iron metabolism were studied in menstruating women. METHODS A group of 270 Caucasian menstruating women, a population group at risk of iro...

Although anaemia, as conventionally defined, appears to be common in Great Britain (Kilpatrick, 1961; Elwood, 1964), little is known about the factors which are likely to cause a negative iron balance and eventually lead to iron deficiency anaemia. The main loss of iron from the body in females is by menstruation, but the relative importance of menstrual loss and dietary intake of iron in the d...

This study determined factors of preterm delivery in Taiwan. Healthy women (n=520, age 29.1±4.2 y) at 8-12 weeks of pregnancy were recruited from prenatal clinics. Background information, anthropometrics, biochemical parameters, and dietary intake, collected by 24 h-recall were obtained from the first, second, and third trimesters to delivery. Clinical outcomes of neonates were also collected. ...

Anemia is a prevalent public health problem associated with nutritional and socio-economic factors that contribute to iron deficiency. To understand the complex interplay of risk factors, we investigated a prospective population sample from the Jiangsu province in China. At baseline, three-day food intake was measured for 2849 individuals (20 to 87 years of age, mean age 47 ± 14, range 20-87 ye...

Fifteen breast-feeding mothers who volunteered for a study of trace elements in human milk, kept two 7-day food records during the course of lactation. The 1st survey week ranged from 6 to 8 weeks and the 2nd survey week from 17 to 22 weeks postpartum. The milk samples submitted for analysis represented a sample of every feed during a period of 24 hr and contained foremilk and hindmilk in equal...

Vitamin and mineral supplementation is often prescribed by physicians to meet the additional nutrient requirements of pregnancy. In order to partially ascertain the effectiveness of these prenatal supplements, the retention of calcium and iron was determined in pregnant women consuming supplemented or unsupplemented self-selected diets. The retention of phosphorus and magnesium, minerals not in...

AIM The purpose of this study was to report obesity status and identify any dietary substances that may be related to obesity in healthy school children from Northern Greece. METHODS Four hundred and twenty-five (n = 425) children were randomly selected to participate in the study. A 24-h recall of three days (two weekdays and one weekend day) was used to analyze the dietary data of the subje...

BACKGROUND Folate and iron deficiency during pregnancy are risk factors for anaemia, preterm delivery, and low birth weight, and may contribute to poor neonatal health and increased maternal mortality. The World Health Organization recommends supplementation of folic acid (FA) and iron for all pregnant women at risk of malnutrition to prevent anaemia. We assessed the use of prenatal folic acid ...