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The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between dietary diversity and haemoglobin concentration of women of reproductive age (WRA), 15−49 years in the Binduri District, of the Upper East Region (UER) of Ghana.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 153 non-pregnant, non-lactating WRA from three randomly selected communities in the Binduri District of the UER of Ghana. Socio-demographic information, 24-h dietary recall and minimum dietary diversity scores (DDS) of the women were obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Haemoglobin concentration of the participants was measured by finger prick using Hemocue 301 Analyzer and classified according to WHO standards. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between DDS and haemoglobin concentrations of the participants.

Total study participants were 153 with mean age of 32.8 ± 8.7 years. Anaemia prevalence of 66.7% and a mean DDS of 4.0 ± 1.2 was recorded. DDS was found to be a strong predictor of haemoglobin concentration (p = 0.00, R² = 0.48).

Interventions that increase DDS may be effective in improving haemoglobin levels of WRA.

The results showed that DDS is a strong predictor of haemoglobin concentration of the WRA in this study. As the dietary diversity of the women increased, their mean haemoglobin concentration also improved. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to be conducted in the study area.

The purpose of this paper is to identify locally relevant factors that predict low haemoglobin (Hb < 11.0g/dl) level of pre-school children (6–23 months) in an impoverished area of Ghana.

This study used a cross-sectional analysis of 278 mother–child pairs selected from households using random sampling techniques. Child feeding knowledge, antenatal care (ANC) practices and socio-demographic characteristics were assessed. Hb levels were laboratory determined. This paper modelled the predictors of low Hb in multiple linear regressions.

More than half (53.0%) of the children were female and aged more than one year (60.4%). Mean Hb was 8.5 ± 1.5 g/dl, and the prevalence of anaemia was 95.0%. High child feeding knowledge was independently associated with increased Hb of children after adjusting for the effects of other factors (β = 0.61, p < 0.005), and mothers who made at least four ANC visits during pregnancy had children with high Hb (β = 0.42, p = 0.04). This paper found some evidence of an inverse association between high household wealth and child Hb levels (β= −0.75, p = 0.06).

This study reports a high prevalence of low haemoglobin levels and anaemia in pre-school children in an impoverished area in Ghana. Maternal education on appropriate child feeding and encouragement of antenatal care attendance during pregnancy are key factors to increasing child haemoglobin levels in this setting. Though the current study bridges the knowledge gap between health service education and practice, a large population-based study is required to confirm the finding.

Iron deficiency anaemia is widely prevalent amongst women and children in India. The aim of the paper is to study the effect of supplementation of micronutrient fortified biscuits on haemoglobin and serum iron levels of adolescent girls (n = 46, 10‐16 years) studying in a government school in Jaipur city, India.

The study was designed to be an intervention study. The intervention was with biscuits fortified with 30 mg iron, 100  μg folic acid, 600  μg vitamin A, 40 mg vitamin C and 150  μg iodine. The iron status of adolescent girls was determined through haemoglobin and serum iron levels.

The results revealed that 95.7 per cent of the adolescent girls suffered from anaemia of which 28.3 per cent had “mild” deficiency and 67.4 per cent had “moderate” deficiency. Anaemia was more prevalent in the older age groups. On supplementation, there was a significant increase in the haemoglobin levels. There was a three‐fold increase in the percentage of adolescent girls in the “normal” category of anaemia from 4.3 to 13.0 per cent and more than two‐fold decrease in the “moderate” category of anaemia from 67.4 to 28.3 per cent. Moreover, 21.7 per cent of the subjects had “normal” levels while the rest (78.3 per cent) had low levels of serum iron; the percentage of adolescent girls in the normal category increased to 93.5 per cent after intervention on the basis of serum iron levels.

Supplementation with iron and folic acid with other micronutrients improved the haemoglobin and serum iron levels of the adolescent girls significantly.

The paper recommends that the school system can be used for micronutrient supplementation to improve the nutritional status of children and adolescents as the students are more regimented here for distribution of nutrient fortified food products.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of calcium supplementation on the iron bioavailability from spirulina (SP) and ferrous sulphate (FE) as reference in iron deficient rats.

Sixty‐four weanling male Sprague‐Dawley rats were first depleted of iron by giving low iron diet for a period of 28 days. The anaemic rats were repleted with iron sources from SP, spirulina+CaCO3 (SPC), FE, FeSO4+CaCO3 (FEC), normal diet (ND), normal diet+CaCO3 (NDC) for 21 days. Iron level of FE supplementation was twice the level of that in SP supplementation. Haematological variables were measured on the last day of preexperimental period and at the end of the repletion period.

Paired samples t‐test at P<0.05 showed that haemoglobin (Hb) and haematocrit (Ht) was increased in all the groups. The diet with added calcium did not significantly inhibit haemoglobin repletion after 21 days in SP and FE. The haemoglobin repletion efficiency (HRE) was significantly higher in rats fed with SP compared to FE (P>0.05). The presence of calcium did not significantly reduce the HRE of these groups.

This paper provides information on effects of additional calcium on iron bioavailability from SP as the intake of dietary supplementation is increasing worldwide.

This study seeks to find out if chronic exposure via drinking water to high doses of a mixture of metals found as contaminants in tap and bottled water sources can alter the systemic physiology of residents.

A case control study was designed, 18 subjects drinking mainly tap water as main group (group I) and 15 subjects drinking exclusively bottled water as control group (group II) for a minimum of two years. Cadmium, lead, chromium and iron concentrations in drinking tap and bottled water samples were measured. The effect potential of the same metals were evaluated by assessing liver and kidney functions and haemoglobin levels for the studied subjects.

Iron concentration was found to be significantly higher in drinking tap water samples compared to bottled. Chromium, lead and iron were significantly higher in blood samples of group I subjects compared to the control group. Blood creatinine levels were positively correlated with that of chromium and cadmium of group I; and chromium levels of group II. Urea levels was positively correlated with lead levels of group I. Haemoglobin was positively correlated with iron blood levels of group I and negatively with lead levels of group II. No appreciable changes were found in the blood clinical markers of the liver functions of either group.

This study gives a concise idea about the higher level of some heavy metals in tap water compared to bottled and how heavy metal contaminants in drinking water may affect kidney function and haemoglobin level of consumers.

It is widely accepted that good health and education are important components of human capability. Although China has made encouraging progress in education and health causes, the role of poor health as an intervening factor in education has not been fully recognized. Iron deficiency is the major micronutrient deficiency encountered by children and adolescents. Many medical and social studies have found a negative correlation between iron deficiency and children physical growth and cognitive development. However, few of the existing literatures work to the conclusion of a causal relationship considering the endogenity problem in the estimation of a human capital model. The purpose of this paper is to study the iron status of elementary school children living in the poor countryside of western China and its educational consequence with the application of instrumental variable (IV) estimation.

An analytical framework of academic achievement production is adopted in the paper to empirically identify the relationship between iron deficiency and academic achievement to estimate the impact.

Using a sample of 45,549 school children from Gansu, the paper finds that around 86 per cent of the sample children are iron deficient and 40 per cent of the sample children are suffering from iron deficiency anaemia. The use of IV is innovative in identifying the endogenous health variable, namely iron deficiency.

This paper enriches existing studies on children health and education. IV estimation indicates that iron deficiency has a significant adverse impact on school children academic achievement. The paper suggests health intervention, such as iron intake fortification, as a possible measure for education cause.

This study aims to assess the nutritional status of children with sickle cell diseases using anthropometric measurements, biochemical markers and dietary intakes.

The study was conducted in 100 children of 3-12 years of age with sickle cell diseases (SCDs) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. Weight, height and age of participants were used to calculate body mass index-for-age. The mid-upper-arm-circumference-for-age, weight-for-age (percentiles) and height-for-age (percentiles) were compared with standards growth charts for children. Biochemical measures such as serum albumin and ferritin, as well as full blood count, were assessed. Dietary intake was assessed using 24-h dietary recall and food frequency questionnaire.

From the study, 73 and 37 per cent of the children with SCD recorded inadequate intake of iron and vitamin E, respectively, when compared to the recommended daily allowance. Out of the 100 participants, 37 per cent were underweight and 22 per cent were stunted. There was significant difference (p < 0.05) in underweight (weight-for-age) prevalence by gender. A multiple variate regression showed a significant association between zinc (r² = 0.763, p < 0.05) and haemoglobin levels.

The evidence in this paper is relevant for treatment, health education and nutritional counselling of parents with children who have SCD.

The curing of pork for the purpose of manufacturing bacon and ham is fundamentally a process of salting that was originally used merely as a method of preservation. A century and a half ago the curing of pork was done on the farm or in the home. To‐day, practically all the bacon and ham consumed is mass‐produced in factories, and the concern of manufacturers is to obtain the best standard products by the simplest means. The report that follows is not concerned with those factors in the quality of the product that can only be standardised by control of the conditions under which the pig is reared and of its treatment immediately before slaughter, such as the conformation and composition of the carcase. It is concerned only with those factors that are definitely due to the process of curing, namely, the cured flavour, the production of the red cured colour of the lean meat and the even distribution of salt. It is now well known that the production of the red colour is due to the interaction of a nitrite, such as potassium or sodium nitrite, with the haemoglobin of the meat, which yields a pigment, nitroso‐haemoglobin, which is more permanent than haemoglobin. On the other hand, it is known that such nitrites may have harmful effects upon animals, if taken indiscriminately into the alimentary system, so that the view generally held is that the amount of nitrite in staple foods should be as low as possible. In the traditional method of curing, nitrite is not added to the curing salt. Nitrate (saltpetre) is added. The fact that the red colour develops is due to the action of certain bacteria in reducing a portion of the added nitrate to nitrite. In this indirect method of introducing nitrite into the cure, the amount of nitrite in the product when it is finally consumed depends upon many variables, and cannot be easily or strictly controlled. The traditional procedure of adding nitrate is still the basis of commercial practice in this country ; in fact, the addition of nitrite is illegal. The traditional method of curing on the farm or in the home has, however, been modified in one very important way in the modern factory. Traditionally, dry salts were used. To‐day, the usual method employed in factories is salting by immersion in tanks of pickle, combined with the forcible injection into the carcase of a solution of common salt and saltpetre. Two advantages have been gained by this change ; first, a milder cure, containing a relatively small and fairly evenly distributed amount of salt, and, secondly, speed and economy. From the points of view both of the consumer and of the manufacturer, a number of questions emerge from this review of the present situation in this country. Thus, it may be asked : (1) Does nitrate contribute in any essential way, in addition to serving as a source of nitrite, to the process ? Does it, for example, contribute essentially to the cured flavour or to the keeping properties of the product ? (2) Similarly, do bacteria contribute in any essential way, in addition to acting as agents in the production of nitrite ? (3) How far are the temperature, time and acidity determined in tank‐curing by the need for controlling the type of bacterial flora and its activity ; and what advantages could the manufacturer obtain if the need for the bacteria and for the control of their activity did not exist ? (4) Would the elimination of the nitrate and the bacteria from the process help toward obtaining more uniform and lower amounts of nitrite in the finished product ? It has therefore been felt essential to carry out the experiments described in this report, although it may appear at first sight that they cover similar ground to that traversed as long ago as 1925 in the U.S.A. under the auspices of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture and of the Institute of American Meat Packers. There is, however, a basic difference in the aims of the two pieces of work. The American work, conducted on an extensive scale in a number of packing houses, was a successful demonstration that the direct use of sodium nitrite in American cures was commercially practicable, and had many operative advantages over the traditional method, which relied entirely for the production of nitrite on the bacterial reduction of nitrate. As regards the product, it was found to be at least equal in all respects to that produced by the older method. The work was not designed to elucidate the mechanism of curing, i.e., to isolate the factors responsible for the production of the cured flavour and, in fact, no steps were taken to eliminate the factor of bacterial action. The results did, however, show that the presence of nitrate, as such, was not essential for the flavour of American bacon and hams. The aim of the present work has been twofold : to determine the relative importance of the various factors responsible for the production of the cured flavour ; and to determine whether the direct use of nitrite in English cures, which are very different from those used in America, would give a satisfactory product, as judged by English standards. The first objective is not only of scientific interest, but is fundamentally related to the second. If a clearly defined factor can be shown to be responsible for the production of the cured flavour, any consequential modifications in English commercial practice that may suggest themselves can be viewed and developed on a scientific and not an empirical basis. The work therefore included a critical comparison between, first, current procedure in the factory, based on the traditional process of adding nitrate and depending on bacterial activity for the production of nitrite ; secondly, nearly sterile procedure in which both nitrate and nitrite were added in addition to sodium chloride ; and thirdly, nearly sterile procedure in which only nitrite was added. Other aspects of curing were also investigated, including the rate at which the freshly‐slaughtered pig is cooled, the action of heat on the nitrite in bacon, the minimal desirable amount of free nitrite in bacon, the bacterial flora of pork, bacon and mature tank‐pickle and the amounts of salt and nitrite in commercial bacon. The results of the experimental cures, as will be seen, establish a strong presumption that the characteristic flavour of bacon is due to the action of sodium chloride and nitrite on the flesh, and that the presence of nitrate and microbial action during pickling and maturation are not essential. The work also raises, but does not settle, other important issues. For example, what is the process by which nitrite is lost in the meat, other than by combination with haemoglobin, and what are the effects of temperature, time, acidity, etc., upon the rate and extent of this process ; does the presence of nitrate in the tissues appreciably retard or inhibit the growth of putrefactive anaerobes? These problems are now being investigated, but in the meantime it seems undesirable to defer publication of the results already obtained. What is the immediate practical upshot of the work ? The basic principles of the curing of bacon can be taken as fairly established, and they do point to the possibility of recasting current practice in this country in a way that would give the curer really effective control over the quality of his product, so far as it is determined by the actual process of curing. But it would be premature at this stage to attempt the radical changes in method that are implied. Before that could usefully be done it would be necessary to carry out a comprehensive series of experiments on a larger scale, and with an adequate range of raw material (i.e., carcases), in order to establish how far the results obtained on the small scale are reproducible in the factory. The question of this further work is under consideration.

Proposes a modified Hill model for the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve. The model fits normal oxyhaemoglobin dissociation experimental data quite accurately, and can easily be adapted to experimental data of subjects suffering haemoglobinopathies when available. Discusses the Adair equation, as well as correcting factors for varying temperature and pH.

The purpose of the study was to assess the association between iron intake and the incidence of anaemia during pregnancy as well as estimate the prevalence and magnitude of anaemia in pregnancy.

A retrospective case-control study was conducted on 383 postnatal women at four health-care facilities. Data on iron supplementation and haemoglobin (Hb) levels during pregnancy was collected from the respondents. Spearman, Pearson Chi-square tests of independence were used to measure associations between variables, a log-linear model was adopted to ascertain the association and level of interaction among variables. All p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results show 54.3% prevalence of anaemia at registration and 33.6% at 36 weeks of pregnancy, p < 0.001. Iron supplement intake during pregnancy was 96.3%. The log-linear analysis model retained the Parity × Marital Status interaction across the levels of anaemia (p < 0.001). Compared to married pregnant women, single pregnant women were almost equally likely to be anaemic (OR = 1.06).

One of the limitations of retrospective studies is recall bias; however, this was likely to be minimal, as participants were approached within 8 days after delivery. Despite this, this study still holds promise as it reports a rather high prevalence of anaemia at 36 weeks even with the high intake of iron.

Anaemia in pregnancy is a major public health issue because of the consequential outcomes on maternal and child health. The study identified a high prevalence of anaemia at registration; which could be the basis for intensifying pre-natal iron supplementation before pregnancy.