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Query: UMLS:C0240066 (iron deficiency)
 7,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hunger and malnutrition in Africa have been on the increase since the 1960s. During the 1970s, it is estimated that 30 million people were directly affected by famine and malnutrition. About 5 million children died in 1984 alone. In Mozambique during the 1983-84 famine, about 100,000 people perished. In Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, and Angola armed conflicts compound the problem. Ethiopia alone had 9 million famine victims in 1983. The most common form of malnutrition in Africa is protein energy deficiency affecting over 100 million people, especially 30-50 million children under 5 years of age. Almost another 200 million are at risk. Iron deficiency, commonly called anemia, also affects 150 million people, mostly women and children. Iodine deficiency leads to disorders like mental retardation, cretinism, deafness, abortion, low resistance to disease, and goiter and this affects 60 million with about 150 million more at risk. Vitamin A deficiency causes blindness and low resistance to disease and affects about 10 million. Protein energy deficiency is treated by using donated foods in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, day care centers, and feeding centers. There are no community programs for anemia, or vitamin A or iodine deficiencies. Vaccines for preventing and drugs for treating diseases that cause malnutrition are imported. Therefore, African food and nutrition professionals met in 1988 and created the Africa Council for Food and Nutrition Sciences (AFRONUS) to eliminate famine and malnutrition in Africa. Activities have started in: 1) developing contacts between the workers in food and nutrition; 2) assessing the situation of food and nutrition in Africa; 3) developing an action plan; 4) implementing the plan; and 5) monitoring progress. Food and Nutrition Policy Guidelines have also been prepared by AFRONUS for food and nutrition workers. Africa has enough natural resources to solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition, but these resources have to be harnessed.
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PMID:Hunger and malnutrition: the determinant of development: the case for Africa and its food and nutrition workers. 139 7

Iron deficiency and vitamin A deficiency are both reported to predispose to infection morbidity and to mortality. In both situations, however, the data are insufficient to draw firm conclusions, primarily owing to flaws in the design of the studies. To be sure, these are difficult studies to carry out, and the investigators whose reports have been reviewed should be praised rather than adversely criticized for their efforts. In the case of iron deficiency, there is a further complication in interpretation, that is the suggestion that iron deficiency states may be protective and that conditions of iron overload may predispose to infection. These concepts appear to pertain most convincingly to malaria and Yersinia infections, and to situations in which iron dextran is given parenterally to young children in the first few months of life. There are still two few data to suggest that oral iron is harmful and there is no reason at present that it should not be employed for the correction of iron deficiency anemia.
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PMID:Micronutrients and susceptibility to infection. 219 69

Since the Nutrition Canada Survey (1973) there has been clear evidence that Aboriginal people have low intakes of many nutrients such as iron, vitamin D, calcium, folate, vitamin A, and fluoride. Recent surveys suggest that the situation has not changed. Children are most likely to be affected clinically. More than half of Aboriginal children in some subpopulations in Manitoba suffer a period of iron deficiency, which may affect development. Nutritional rickets is still a common problem in Manitoba. We have seen cases of megaloblastic anemia due to folate deficiency. The relationship of the well-described low folate intake in pregnancy and birth defects has received no attention for the Aboriginal population. In a recent survey of Inuit children, dental caries of the primary teeth were present in over 70% of children, with a mean DMF (decayed, missing, and filled) index of 1.8 teeth in children under 2 and 9.5 in children 6 to 8 years. Although clinical vitamin A deficiency is not seen, there is now good evidence that subclinical deficiency increases susceptibility to infections. Although not all Aboriginal populations suffer all of these deficiencies, the problems are sufficiently widespread to suggest this is an urgent problem. It will not be solved simply by education. There must be a political will and a coordinated effort to make a balanced diet available to all at an affordable cost.
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PMID:Current status of nutritional deficiencies in Canadian aboriginal people. 758 49

Poor nutrition remains a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality in South-East Asia. Manifestations of this include protein-energy malnutrition, iodine deficiency diseases, vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency and some non-communicable diseases of adults. The extent of these diseases, and their interactions with infection, make nutrition the single most important modifiable host factor underlying health status in the region. It is vital that long-term sustainable programs for the control of nutrition problems are accorded a high priority within the health sector.
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PMID:Nutrition and health in South-East Asia. 833 91

Iron, zinc and vitamin A status was assessed in 309 plantation workers during pregnancy and in a sub-sample of 108 subjects at 20 to 36 weeks postpartum and the birth weights of their newborn were noted. A significant positive correlation was noted between haemoglobin concentration at 10-26 weeks of gestation of anaemic mothers (n = 180) and birth weights of their new born. Depleted iron stores (serum ferritin < 12 micrograms/l) were noted in 33.3% of subjects at 10-26 weeks of gestation. There was no significant change in serum ferritin concentration at > 32 weeks of gestation. Iron deficiency persisted at 20-36 weeks postpartum. Marginal vitamin A deficiency was also noted, as, 46.2% and 15.6% of the subjects respectively, had low serum vitamin A levels in pregnancy and postpartum. Low serum zinc levels were noted only in pregnancy. Iron supplementation during pregnancy was only effective in preventing further deterioration in iron status and it should be continued for about 12 weeks after delivery.
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PMID:Micronutrient status of plantation workers in Sri Lanka during pregnancy and postpartum. 884 Jul 9

Important micronutrient deficiencies in at-risk populations can be addressed simultaneously with programmatically cost-effective results. Because of the interaction between many micronutrients, this would also be biologically effective. With adequate investment and political support, the chances of eliminating iodine deficiency as a problem in women of reproductive age and young children and of eliminating vitamin A deficiency as a problem in young children in the future are high. To eliminate iron deficiency and folic-acid-dependent neural tube defects (FADNTDs) in low-income populations, a new set of approaches will have to be developed. These same approaches, if successful, could be used to tackle other important micronutrient deficiencies.
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PMID:Candidate noninfectious disease conditions. 1006 75

Iron deficiency is the single most common nutritional disorder world-wide and the main cause of anaemia in infancy, childhood and pregnancy. It is prevalent in most of the developing world and it is probably the only nutritional deficiency of consideration in industrialised countries. In the developing world the prevalence of iron deficiency is high, and is due mainly to a low intake of bioavailable iron. However, in this setting, iron deficiency often co-exists with other conditions such as, malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency, folate deficiency, and infection. In tropical regions, parasitic infestation and haemoglobinopathies are also a common cause of anaemia. In the developed world iron deficiency is mainly a single nutritional problem. The conditions previously mentioned might contribute to the development of iron deficiency or they present difficulties in the laboratory diagnosis of iron deficiency.
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PMID:Anaemia and iron deficiency disease in children. 1074 44

Vitamin A deficiency produces anemia and altered iron status. In this study with rats we tested two hypotheses regarding vitamin A deficiency: (1) that it impairs erythropoiesis, leading to an increased red cell turnover, and (2) that it inhibits the glycosylation of transferrin. Erythropoietic activity was assessed indirectly by determining the myeloid:erythroid ratio in bone marrow smears, the number of erythroid colonies in the red pulp of spleen, the blood reticulocyte index, and zinc protoporphyrin and plasma transferrin receptor concentrations. Transferrin glycosylation was assessed by measuring the sialic acid content of transferrin. The effects of vitamin A deficiency were compared with those of iron deficiency. Iron deficiency produced anemia and low iron levels in organs. Vitamin A deficiency produced low levels of plasma and hepatic retinol, and it induced decreased plasma total iron-binding capacity and raised iron levels in tibia and spleen. Short- but not long-term iron deficiency reduced the number of erythroid colonies in spleen; vitamin A deficiency had no influence. Neither iron nor vitamin A deficiency influenced the myeloid:erythroid ratio in bone marrow smears and the blood reticulocyte production. Plasma transferrin receptor and erythrocyte zinc protoporphyrin concentrations were not affected by vitamin A deficiency but increased with iron deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency did not stimulate erythrocyte breakdown, as indicated by unaltered plasma lactate dehydrogenase activity and reduced plasma total bilirubin levels. Both vitamin A and iron deficiencies raised the proportion of multiple sialylated transferrins in plasma. Thus, we have not found evidence that vitamin A deficiency affects erythropoiesis and erythrocyte turnover. The iron accumulation in spleen and bone marrow may be related to reduced iron transport due to inhibition of transferrin synthesis rather than inhibition of transferrin sialylation.
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PMID:Indicators of erythrocyte formation and degradation in rats with either vitamin A or iron deficiency. 1082 45

Anemia and iron deficiency during pregnancy are prevalent in developing countries, but their causes are not always known. We assessed the prevalence and severity of anemia and iron deficiency and their association with helminths, malaria and vitamin A deficiency in a community-based sample of 336 pregnant women in the plains of Nepal. Hemoglobin, erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP) and serum ferritin were assessed in venous blood samples. Overall, 72.6% of women were anemic (hemoglobin < 110 g/L), 19.9% had moderate to severe anemia (hemoglobin < 90 g/L) and 80.6% had iron deficiency (EP > 70 micromol/mol heme or serum ferritin < 10 microg/L). Eighty-eight percent of cases of anemia were associated with iron deficiency. More than half of the women (54.2%) had a low serum retinol concentration (<1.05 micromol/L), 74.2% were infected with hookworms and 19.8% had Plasmodium vivax malaria parasitemia. Hemoglobin, EP and serum ferritin concentrations were significantly worse and the prevalence of anemia, elevated EP and low serum ferritin was increased with increasing intensity of hookworm infection. Hookworm infection intensity was the strongest predictor of iron status, especially of depleted iron stores. Low serum retinol was most strongly associated with mild anemia, whereas P. vivax malaria and hookworm infection intensity were stronger predictors of moderate to severe anemia. These findings reinforce the need for programs to consider reducing the prevalence of hookworm, malaria infection and vitamin A deficiency where indicated, in addition to providing iron supplements to effectively control anemia.
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PMID:Hookworms, malaria and vitamin A deficiency contribute to anemia and iron deficiency among pregnant women in the plains of Nepal. 1101 85

Micronutrient deficiency is a serious public health concern in most of the developing countries which leads to malnutrition syndromes. The micronutient deficiencies which are of greatest public health significance include iron deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and iodine deficiency disorder. National Pilot Programme on Control of Micronutrient Malnutrition was launched in 1995 and the department of biochemistry and nutrition of the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta was entrusted to co-ordinate the activities. It presently covers five eastern and north-eastern states. Baseline situation analysis was conducted mainly on iron deficiency anaemia, iodine deficiency disorder and vitamin A deficiency. Comparing with WHO cut off figures, point prevalence of anaemia in various age groups was found to be high. Bitot's spot was mainly noted in the age group of 6-71 months. Nightblindness was found in the children of the age group of 24-71 months. High prevalence of nightblindness in pregnant women is a point of concern. Action needed to control micronutrient deficiency includes: Intervention strategies, extensive nutrition and health education, to support the problem specific programmes, to stregthen various state government programmes and strengthen role of NGOs.
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PMID:Micronutrient malnutrition--present status and future remedies. 1129 87


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