Suchergebnisse

IFPRI3; ISI; HarvestPlus; CRP4 ; HarvestPlus; A4NH ; PR ; CGIAR Research Programs on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

In 2009, the Australian government mandated the addition of folic acid to bread flour to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects (NTD)-affected pregnancies. In 2011–2012, the Australian Health Measures Survey (AHMS) reported a mean red blood cell (RBC) folate in women of reproductive age (16–44 y) of 1647 nmol/L. Over 99% of women had an RBC folate ≥ 906 nmol/L, a concentration consistent with a very low risk of NTDs if a woman became pregnant. However, RBC folate was measured using an immunoassay, which is not a recommended method due to questionable accuracy. The microbiological assay is the preferred method for RBC folate measurement. To determine whether the immunoassay method may have led to spurious conclusions about the folate status of Australian women, we collected fasting blood samples from 74 healthy non-pregnant, non-lactating women (18–44 y) and measured RBC folate using both the immunoassay and microbiological methods. Mean RBC folate (95% confidence interval) concentration measured with the immunoassay method was 1735 (1666, 1804) nmol/L compared with 942 (887, 1012) nmol/L using the microbiological method. No woman had an RBC folate < 906 nmol/L using the immunoassay method, whereas 46% of women had an RBC folate < 906 nmol/L using the microbiological method. The NTD risk was estimated to be 0.06% using the immunoassay method and 0.14% using the microbiological method. RBC folate using AHMS survey may have underestimated NTD risk in Australian women.

Little is known about the micronutrient status of women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is critical for the design of effective nutrition interventions. We recruited 744 mother-child pairs from South Kivu (SK) and Kongo Central (KC). We determined hemoglobin (Hb), serum zinc, vitamin B12, folate, ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), retinol binding protein (RBP), C-reactive protein, and α-1 acid glycoprotein concentrations. Anemia prevalence was determined using Hb adjusted for altitude alone and Hb adjusted for both altitude and ethnicity. Anemia prevalence was lower after Hb adjustment for altitude and ethnicity, compared to only altitude, among women (6% vs. 17% in SK; 10% vs. 32% in KC), children 6–23 months (26% vs. 59% in SK; 25% vs. 42% in KC), and children 24–59 months (14% vs. 35% in SK; 23% vs. 44% in KC), respectively. Iron deficiency was seemingly higher with sTfR as compared to inflammation-adjusted ferritin among women (18% vs. 4% in SK; 21% vs. 5% in KC), children 6–23 months (51% vs. 14% in SK; 74% vs. 10% in KC), and children 24–59 months (23% vs. 4% in SK; 58% vs. 1% in KC). Regardless of indicator, iron deficiency anemia (IDA) never exceeded 3% in women. In children, IDA reached almost 20% when sTfR was used but was only 10% with ferritin. Folate, B12, and vitamin A (RBP) deficiencies were all very low ( ; Land and Food Systems, Faculty of ; Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of ; Non UBC ; Reviewed ; Faculty

IFPRI3; ISI; CRP4 ; HarvestPlus; A4NH ; PR ; CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

Little is known about the micronutrient status of women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is critical for the design of effective nutrition interventions. We recruited 744 mother-child pairs from South Kivu (SK) and Kongo Central (KC). We determined hemoglobin (Hb), serum zinc, vitamin B12, folate, ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), retinol binding protein (RBP), C-reactive protein, and α-1 acid glycoprotein concentrations. Anemia prevalence was determined using Hb adjusted for altitude alone and Hb adjusted for both altitude and ethnicity. Anemia prevalence was lower after Hb adjustment for altitude and ethnicity, compared to only altitude, among women (6% vs. 17% in SK; 10% vs. 32% in KC), children 6–23 months (26% vs. 59% in SK; 25% vs. 42% in KC), and children 24–59 months (14% vs. 35% in SK; 23% vs. 44% in KC), respectively. Iron deficiency was seemingly higher with sTfR as compared to inflammation-adjusted ferritin among women (18% vs. 4% in SK; 21% vs. 5% in KC), children 6–23 months (51% vs. 14% in SK; 74% vs. 10% in KC), and children 24–59 months (23% vs. 4% in SK; 58% vs. 1% in KC). Regardless of indicator, iron deficiency anemia (IDA) never exceeded 3% in women. In children, IDA reached almost 20% when sTfR was used but was only 10% with ferritin. Folate, B12, and vitamin A (RBP) deficiencies were all very low (<5%); RBP was 10% in children. The prevalence of anemia was unexpectedly low. Inflammation-adjusted zinc deficiency was high among women (52% in SK; 58% in KC), children 6–23 months (23% in SK; 20% in KC), and children 24–59 months (25% in SK; 27% in KC). The rate of biochemical zinc deficiency among Congolese women and children requires attention.