[Fortification of fluid milk for the prevention and treatment of iron deficiency anemia in children under 4 years of age]. / Fortificação do leite fluido na prevenção e tratamento da anemia carencial ferropriva em criancas menores de 4 anos.

The effectiveness of the use of chelate amino acid iron fortified fluid milk in the treatment of iron deficiency in children under four years of age was studied. The 269 children included in this trial received 1 liter/day of fluid milk fortified with 3 mg of chelate amino acid iron and were evaluated at six monthly intervals. At the beginning of the study 62.3% of the children presented anemia. After 6 months, this percentage had decreased to 41.8% and at the end of one year to 26.4%. The greatest decreases occurred in the groups comprising the subjects who were of 12 to 23 months of age and those under one year of age. Among the children who presented initial hemoglobin levels under 9.5 g/dl, 59.3% were free of anemia after one year of follow-up. Of those presenting initial hemoglobin levels between 9.5 and 10.9 g/dl, 66.7% recovered from their anemia. There was also greater hematological improvement in the children that ingested over 750 ml/day of fortified milk in those families that did not share the supply of supplement among their other members and in those families that had only one child under five years of age. These findings led to the conclusion that the fortification of fluid milk is a viable and effective method for the treatment of iron deficiency in pre-school children.

[The effect of the use of milk fortified with iron and vitamin C on hemoglobin levels and nutritional status of children under 2]. / Efeito do uso de leite fortificado com ferro e vitamina C sobre os niveis de hemoglobina e condicao nutricional de criancas menores de 2 anos.

The impact of the use of fortified powdered whole milk (9 mg of iron and 65 mg of vitamin C/100 g of milk) on the hemoglobin levels of children under 2 years of age was evaluated, over a period of 6 months, in 107 children enrolled in municipal Day Care Centers (DCC) and in 228 seen at a Basic Health Care Unit (BHCU). Before the beginning of the intervention, 66.4% of the children in the DCC and 72.8% of those seen at the BHCU had hemoglobin levels under 11.0 g/dl. After 6 months of fortified milk intake, these percentages fell to 20.6% and 18.0% respectively. The average hemoglobin before the intervention was 10.3 g/dl in the DCC and 10.5 in the BHCU. After 6 months these increased to 11.6 g/dl in the populations studied. Concerning the nutritional condition, evaluated according to Gomez's criteria, 57% of the DCC children presented an improvement, 41.1% showed changes and only 1.9% became worse. In the BHCU, 11.4% presented better condition, 70.6% remained the same and 18% worsened, which demonstrated differences in response regarding improvement of nutritional condition, when fortified milk was used in closed and open environments. The authors conclude that the utilization of enriched foods is an excellent alternative in the treatment of iron deficiency in populations of children under 2 years of age.

PIP: The impact of the use of fortified powdered whole milk (9 mg of iron and 65 mg of vitamin C per 100 g of milk) on the hemoglobin levels of children under 2 years of age was evaluated, over a period of 6 months, in 107 children enrolled in municipal day care centers (DCC) and in 228 seen at a Basic Health Care Unit (BHCU). Before the beginning of the intervention, 66.4% of the children in the DCC and 72.8% of those seen at the BHCU had hemoglobin levels under 11.0 g/dl. After 6 months of fortified milk intake, these percentages fell to 20.6% and 18.0%, respectively. The average hemoglobin level before the intervention was 10.3 g/dl in the DCC and 10.5 g/dl in the BHCU. After 6 months these increased to 11.6 g/dl in the populations studied. Concerning the nutritional condition, evaluated according to Gomez's criteria, 57% of the DCC children showed improvement, 41.1% showed no change, and only 1.9% grew worse. In the BHCU, 11.4% showed improvement, 70.6% remained the same, and 18% worsened, which demonstrated differences in response regarding improvement of nutritional condition when fortified milk was used in closed and open environments. The authors conclude that the utilization of enriched foods is an excellent alternative in the treatment of iron deficiency in populations of children under 2 years of age. (author's)