Originally published October 24 2005
Adding iron to soy sauce could help anemic mothers
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Saskia de Pee, a senior researcher at Helen Keller International Asia Pacific, has found that anemia in new mothers can be reduced by introducing a soy sauce fortified with iron-rich sodium feredetate.
Dr Saskia de Pee, a senior researcher at Helen Keller International Asia Pacific, showed that the soy sauce fortified with sodium feredetate (produced by Akzo Nobel and marketed as Ferrazone) was able to reduce anaemia in mothers who consumed regular amounts of soy sauce, from 35.8 per cent to 20.1 per cent over a 14 month trial period.
Although the mothers consumed on average only 1.5-3.0 mL of soy sauce per day, the reduction of anaemia was significant, despite the low level of added iron intake.
"These results were unexpected in view of the rather low daily consumption of soy sauce, and hence low consumption of added iron," said Dr de Pee.
She presented the results at the recent International Congress of Nutrition in Durban, South Africa, last month.
"There are no other studies showing such a significant reduction in anaemia with such a small additional intake of iron.
This shows a way to reduce anaemia using normal market channels," she added.
A local subsidiary of Heinz, P.T. Heinz ABC Indonesia, produced the 16 mL sachets of soy sauce, which were distributed via normal marketing channels, in Bandung district, West Java, Indonesia.
According to UNICEF estimates, iron deficiency affects half of the developing world's infants, undermines the health of 500 million women of reproductive age and leads to more than 60,000 childbirth deaths a year.
It also causes a range of other problems in millions of people, including impaired cognitive development in children, fatigue, maternal mortality and low productivity in the workplace.
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