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Little is known about the prevalence of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia in non‐pregnant adult women of low socio‐economic status. The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of awareness of the importance and sources of iron among female factory workers in the export processing zone (EPZ) sector. The influence of socio‐economic status of these women on their consumption of iron was also studied.

A questionnaire survey was carried out with 300 EPZ female workers aged between 18 and 45 years old. The interviewer‐administered questionnaire gathered data on their personal background, awareness on iron and their frequency of consumption of selected foods. Qualitative analysis of the dietary habits of a sample of 32 women was made through the use of a 24 h food recall.

The findings of the study revealed that 77 per cent of the female factory workers surveyed did not know the importance of iron in their body. Chi‐square tests showed that there was an association between educational level and knowledge on the importance of iron ( p < 0.01). The residential area of the women was not associated with their awareness on iron ( p > 0.05).

This study can arouse the interest of professionals in the managerial cadre of the factories and the local health authorities. They can further investigate the iron status of female factory workers and subsequently take necessary measures to improve health status of the workers and their work productivity.

In Mauritius, there has not been any recent study on the awareness and consumption of iron among women working in the factories. Moreover, most studies done worldwide have focussed on the iron status of pregnant women. This study will therefore provide additional data on the iron status of another “at risk” group.

Few areas of public service exist in which those who work to provide them receive the recognition their efforts justly deserve, and regretably no where more so than in the local health and consumer protection services. These services have a long history of public indifference, which in years past bordered on contempt. They were labelled “public servants” in a manner that implied they were the personal servants of ratepayers, apointed by them and paid from monies they provided.

Although anemia during pregnancy is common in the USA, socio-demographic factors make pregnant women enrolled in Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program more vulnerable than the general population. The purpose of this study was to examine the socio-demographic characteristics, blood hemoglobin concentrations, nutrition knowledge and potential associations among these factors in a sample of pregnant women participating in the WIC program.

A cross-sectional study using survey methodology was conducted. In total, 60 pregnant women who were between 12 and 24 weeks of gestation and were carrying a single fetus were recruited from two WIC clinics. Overall nutrition knowledge was assessed with 42 questions arranged into three subscales. Participants’ scores were transformed into tertiles. WIC program records were used to record blood hemoglobin values. Principal component analysis was used to validate the knowledge subscales. Correlational and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship among variables.

Prevalence of anemia among the participants was higher than the national averages. Only 10 per cent of participants scored in the high tertile for nutrition knowledge. Anemia-during-pregnancy knowledge score was positively correlated with blood hemoglobin concentrations (r = 0.23, p < 0.05), and it was also a predictor of blood hemoglobin levels (R2 = 0.364, p = 0.02).

This is the first study to report on the knowledge of anemia, anemia during pregnancy and preventive measures among pregnant women enrolled in the WIC program.

This study describes the breast‐feeding profile as well as the consumption of iron source foods and vitamin C source foods for both anaemic and non‐anaemic children. A total of 500 infants attending two Municipal Primary Health‐Care Centres in Rio de Janeiro were assessed. The prevalence of anaemia was 57.6 per cent. A low probability of consumption of exclusive breast‐feeding at four months was found (9 per cent for anaemic and 12 per cent for non‐anaemic). Further findings showed that the early consumption of cow’s milk, as well as the low probability of consumption and late introduction of beans, liver and green vegetables in the child’s diet, were considered risk dietary factors for iron deficiency anaemia among the evaluated children.

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.

Provides details on one of the functions of the Centre for Pregnancy Nutrition at the University of Sheffield, namely the running of a nationwide helpline service (the “Eating for Pregnancy” Helpline). This service is available to the public, professionals working with pre‐pregnant, pregnant and lactating women, fellow researchers and the media, and provides information on all aspects of nutrition through pre‐pregnancy, pregnancy and lactation. Describes by whom the service has been used during the first 28 months of its existence (September 1991‐December 1993), a breakdown of the type of enquiries which have been received and, in the main, a summary of the advice which is given in response to the most common enquiries.

A new National Diet and Nutrition Survey was published in October 1998, by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health, which reported on the dietary intake and nutritional status of people over 65 years of age in the UK. This survey provided data on 1,275 free‐living people and 412 people in residential care. Along with the information on diet and nutritional status are data on anthropometric and biochemical parameters. A second related survey looked at dental health in this age group. The key findings of these surveys and the public health implications for older people are discussed.

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common nutritional anemia in the world and a pervasive health problem, especially in developing countries. Children under two years of age are more prone to be affected by IDA. The best strategy to prevent and treat IDA is to use iron supplements. This study aims to examine the factors associated with noncompliance (such as non-utilization or inconsistent usage) of iron drop supplementation among infants between 6 and 24 months old.

Online databases (PubMed, Scopus and SID) were searched to retrieve relevant articles published from inception up to July 2023. Among the 2,177 articles detected, after removing duplicate and irrelevant titles, 21 cross-sectional studies that met the authors’ inclusion criteria were included. Screening for articles and data extraction were conducted separately by two researchers.

The findings suggest that some factors related to mothers, such as education, knowledge, attitude and performance; some factors associated with child such as child’s gastrointestinal and dental complications; taste and smell of iron drops; and birth order and gender are the main determinants of adherence to iron supplementation.

It can be proposed that the most significant factors affecting the feeding of iron drops to children under the age of two include: the level of mother’s awareness, socio-economic status of the household and the occurrence of digestive complications following the supplementation. Given these observations, adopting proper policies toward improving the nutritional awareness of mothers and producing iron supplements with minimal side effects seems crucial.

This article briefly outlines the main objectives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) programme of research in support of dietary surveys. It summarises the current portfolio of projects, then discusses in more depth the six projects being undertaken on further analysis of data from government dietary surveys, drawing on papers presented by the researchers at the annual meeting of this programme in London on 2 June 1998.

Eating behaviors of children and adolescents are important in establishing adults’ preferences and behaviors. Nutrition knowledge is one of the factors that could influence an adolescent’s eating behavior. Therefore the relationship between nutrition knowledge and eating behaviors of adolescents was examined in this research project. The participants were students from a middle school in Ohio. The students were asked to answer a questionnaire CANKAP (Comprehensive Assessment of Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices), which measured nutrition knowledge and eating behavior. The results indicated that the relationship between nutrition knowledge and eating behavior was insignificant for sixth grade students, but significant for seventh and eighth grade students. The students were not able to identify the food sources of nutrients or nutrient functions, and they did not use a daily food guide to choose foods, although they were aware of the importance of milk and vegetable consumption. The findings in this study will add to the limited research data currently defining the relationship between nutrition knowledge and the eating behaviors of middle school students.