Book Description

Investigations of nutritional anemias of pregnancy made by WHO in India, Israel, Mexico, Poland and Venezuela have shown that the prevalence of anemia in pregnant women ranges from 21% to 80%. Iron deficiency was present in 40-99% of these women and has been responsible for the major occurrences of anemia. Studies on the absorption of iron from various foods indicated that it is necessary to express dietary iron intake in terms of both total iron intake and its absorbability. Loss of body iron occurs in the gastrointestinal tract, urine, sweat, by exfoliation of skin, and through blood loss attributed to parasitic infection. The optimum dietary requirements of iron when absorbed cover physiological losses and conditions such as growth and pregnancy. The total iron demanded during pregnancy is about 900 mg of which 200 mg is lost during and immediately following delivery. The iron requirement increases greatly during pregnancy and since the high requirment during the last trimester cannot be met from consumed food, the diet must be supplemented by administration of medicinal iron. The strengthening of education programs for mothers, sanitary measures particularly in rural areas, the supplementing of foods with iron by enriching wheat flour and baby foods, the supplementing of medicinal iron during pregnancy, the daily administration of small amounts of iron to schoolchildren and further studies on nutritional anemias are all means of changing the present nutritional status.