Powdery food topping combats iron deficiency

• Iron deficiency is the world's most common preventable nutritional problem.
• It has largely been eradicated from developed countries, but more than 750 million children in the developing world have iron-deficiency anemia.
• According to a January 24 press release from the Public Library of Science (PLoS), researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, a simple sachet called Sprinkles could be the key to eradicating such anemia.
• In developing countries, the standard strategy for controlling iron-deficiency anemia is to use an iron supplement (ferrous sulphate) given to children as syrup.
• Sprinkles -- sachets containing microencapsulated iron and other micronutrients as a powder that is sprinkled on food - has no such side effects.
• When tested in clinical trials in Bangladesh and Ghana, mothers surveyed found the treatment acceptable.
• According to an article by researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, published in this month's issue of the open access global health journal PLoS Medicine, a simple sachet called "Sprinkles" could be the key to eradicating this type of anemia.
• In developing countries, the standard strategy to try and control iron-deficiency anemia is the use of an iron supplement (ferrous sulphate) given to children as a syrup.
• But children often find the treatment hard to take, since it has an unpleasant metallic aftertaste, it leaves a dark stain on their teeth, and it can give them abdominal discomfort.
• In contrast, Sprinkles -- sachets containing microencapsulated iron and other micronutrients as a powder that is sprinkled onto foods -- avoids these side effects.
• When it was tested in clinical trials in Bangladesh and Ghana, all of the mothers surveyed found the treatment acceptable.
• In the article, Stanley H. Zlotkin and colleagues summarize the results of seven community-based trials of using Sprinkles in four different countries.