Iron Fortification of Rice for Combating Iron Deficiency Anaemia.

Abstract

Iron deficiency is thought to be the most common cause of anaemia globally. Nearly 58% pregnant women, 50% nonpregnant non-lactating women, 56% adolescent girls, 30% adolescent boys and around 80% children under 3 years of age are anaemic in India. Interventions to prevent and correct iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia, include measures to increase iron intake through food-based approaches, iron supplementation and improved health services and sanitation. Fortification of food with Iron is considered more cost-effective and economically more attractive than iron supplementation. Since rice is the staple food of India, Sampada, a popular rice variety, was fortified through parboiling using Na2FeEDTA as source of iron. The present process of fortification is simple and cost effective and provided iron in the range of 35-40 ppm in the fortified rice. Sensory evaluation and consumer acceptability studies showed that the iron fortified rice product was well accepted by the respondents. Feeding trials of the fortified rice showed that haemoglobin level in severe anaemic subjects significantly (p<0.01) increased from 6.77 ± 0.28g /dl on 0th day to 10.36 ± 1.35g /dl on 60th day while in moderate group it significantly (p<0.01) increased from 9.25 ± 0.73g /dl on 0th day to 10.83 ± 1.40g /dl on 60th day. The haemoglobin level also increased from 0th day to 60th day in subjects with mild anaemia from 11.75 ± 0.21g /dl at baseline (0th day) to 11.83 ± 0.46g /dl on 60th day, but the increase was notstatistically significant. The study also showed that there was no significant change in the haemoglobin level of theanaemic subjects of control group. Hence it can be concluded that the rice fortified with NaFeEDTA can be an effectivesolution to prevent the enormous prevalence of anaemia