TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of cowpea-based food containing fish meal served with Vitamin C-rich drink on iron stores and hemoglobin concentrations in Ghanaian schoolchildren in a Malaria endemic area
AU - Egbi, Godfred
AU - Ayi, Irene
AU - Saalia, Firibu Kwesi
AU - Zotor, Francis
AU - Adom, Theodosia
AU - Harrison, Eric
AU - Ahorlu, Collins K.
AU - Steiner-Asiedu, Matilda
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2015/9
Y1 - 2015/9
N2 - Background: Nutritional anemia is a public health problem among Ghanaian schoolchildren. There is need to employ dietary modification strategies to solve this problem through school and household feeding programs. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of cowpea-based food containing fish meal served with vitamin C-rich drink to improve iron stores and hemoglobin concentrations in Ghanaian schoolchildren. Methods: The study involved cross-sectional baseline and nutrition intervention phases. There were 150 participants of age 6 to 12 years. They were randomly assigned to 3 groups, fish meal-vitamin C (n = 50), vitamin C (n = 50), and control (n = 50), and given different cowpea-based diets for a 6-month period. Height and weight measurements were done according to the standard procedures, dietary data were obtained by 24-hour recall and food frequency questionnaire, hemoglobin concentrations were determined by Hemocue Hemoglobinometer, and serum ferritin and complementreactive protein (CRP) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Participants' blood samples were examined for malaria parasitemia and stools for helminthes using Giemsa stain and Kato-Katz techniques, respectively. Results: Mean ferritin concentration was not significantly different among groups. End line mean or change in hemoglobin concentrations between fish meal-vitamin C group (128.4 + 7.2/8.3 + 10.6 g/L) and control (123.1 ± 6.6/4.2 ± 10.4 g/L) were different, P <.05. Change in prevalence of anemia in fish meal-vitamin C group (19.5%) was different compared to those of vitamin C group (9.3%) and the control (12.2%). Levels of malaria parasitemia and high CRP among study participants at baseline and end line were 58% and 80% then 55% and 79%, respectively. Level of hookworm infestation was 13%. Conclusion: Cowpea-based food containing 3% fish meal and served with vitamin C-richdrink improved hemoglobin concentration and minimized the prevalence of anemia among the study participants.
AB - Background: Nutritional anemia is a public health problem among Ghanaian schoolchildren. There is need to employ dietary modification strategies to solve this problem through school and household feeding programs. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of cowpea-based food containing fish meal served with vitamin C-rich drink to improve iron stores and hemoglobin concentrations in Ghanaian schoolchildren. Methods: The study involved cross-sectional baseline and nutrition intervention phases. There were 150 participants of age 6 to 12 years. They were randomly assigned to 3 groups, fish meal-vitamin C (n = 50), vitamin C (n = 50), and control (n = 50), and given different cowpea-based diets for a 6-month period. Height and weight measurements were done according to the standard procedures, dietary data were obtained by 24-hour recall and food frequency questionnaire, hemoglobin concentrations were determined by Hemocue Hemoglobinometer, and serum ferritin and complementreactive protein (CRP) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Participants' blood samples were examined for malaria parasitemia and stools for helminthes using Giemsa stain and Kato-Katz techniques, respectively. Results: Mean ferritin concentration was not significantly different among groups. End line mean or change in hemoglobin concentrations between fish meal-vitamin C group (128.4 + 7.2/8.3 + 10.6 g/L) and control (123.1 ± 6.6/4.2 ± 10.4 g/L) were different, P <.05. Change in prevalence of anemia in fish meal-vitamin C group (19.5%) was different compared to those of vitamin C group (9.3%) and the control (12.2%). Levels of malaria parasitemia and high CRP among study participants at baseline and end line were 58% and 80% then 55% and 79%, respectively. Level of hookworm infestation was 13%. Conclusion: Cowpea-based food containing 3% fish meal and served with vitamin C-richdrink improved hemoglobin concentration and minimized the prevalence of anemia among the study participants.
KW - Anemia
KW - Cowpea
KW - Fish meal
KW - Ghanaian schoolchildren
KW - Hemoglobin
KW - Iron stores
KW - Vitamin C-rich drink
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84945405625&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0379572115596253
DO - 10.1177/0379572115596253
M3 - Article
C2 - 26385950
AN - SCOPUS:84945405625
SN - 0379-5721
VL - 36
SP - 264
EP - 275
JO - Food and Nutrition Bulletin
JF - Food and Nutrition Bulletin
IS - 3
ER -