...by more than half among poor children-Study

Accra, Aug. 2, GNA - A nutritional supplement known as sprinkles has been identified to reduce anaemia by half when added to children's food, a study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Cornell University's Division of Nutritional Sciences said.

The study, which offered promising insights into how to reduce iron and other micronutrient deficiencies among poor people in developing countries, was conducted in Haiti with global implications. A copy of the findings made available to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday said Sprinkles hold the potential to dramatically reduce anaemia, which undermined the health of children across the developing world.

Sprinkles are an effective and practical tool in reducing anaemia among children. Sprinkles are one of the most promising innovations in nutrition, the study and research associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University said.

The result indicated that sprinkles have been tried in other developing countries, such as Ghana, Bangladesh and Indonesia and was found to be a very effective way to reduce micronutrient deficiencies. The study was to show that Sprinkles were effective in reducing anaemia when included in an ongoing fortified food aid program implemented under challenging, real-life conditions in developing countries.

"They offer an inexpensive option that mothers seem to love and children can consume easily", it said.

Deficiencies in iron and other micronutrients have been found to be a devastating problem worldwide that caused poor health, premature death, and impaired development.

Collaborators on the study included World Vision-Haiti, Micronutrient Initiative, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) Project, managed by the Academy for Educational Development. The findings were based on a study in rural Haiti, where at least two out of every three children under age three are anaemic. Children in the study were enrolled in a food aid program that included cereals fortified with iron and other micronutrients.

Children aged six to 24 months were the most vulnerable to suffering from iron-deficiency anaemia. "Sprinkles when combined with other food aid initiatives, the potential impact is huge", the study added.

After Sprinkles, a dry powder containing iron and other vitamins and minerals, were added to their food for two months, anaemia rates among the children were reduced from 54 to 24 percent, and further reduced to 14 percent seven months later. However, anemia rates remained unchanged for those children in the study who did not receive Sprinkles. The study also found that fortified food aid alone is insufficient to prevent anaemia in infants and young children, even if mothers are advised to complement the donated commodities with locally available, iron-rich foods.

This could be due to the fact that foods, such as meat, are too expensive for families to buy on a daily basis and that donated foods are often shared among all family members rather than consumed only by the child.

"In poor settings like rural Haiti, food aid programs targeted to infants and young children should supplement their provision of standard iron-fortified foods with an additional nutritional supplement, such as Sprinkles, or they will fail to combat anaemia adequately," According to the study, it was highly feasible to integrate Sprinkles distribution and education into existing food aid programs. Mothers participating in the study indicated that they would be willing to buy Sprinkles if sold in local markets because they believe it will benefit their children and prefer it to other nutrition interventions. 02 Aug. 07