HYDERABAD: An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-funded clinical trial by the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has highlighted the need to diversify the diet given to toddlers at anganwadis, to make them healthier.
The intervention taken up by NIN researchers as part of the trial was simple — adding the humble guava fruit to the toddlers’ diet. Over a period of eight months of the trial, the guava helped in increasing haemoglobin, iron, vitamin C and folate levels in the children. A reduction in Acute Respiratory Infection (ARS) incidences was also observed.
Why guava?
The trial titled, ‘Guava with an institutional supplementary meal improves iron status of preschoolers: A cluster-randomised controlled trial’, was focused on finding out how the level of iron among toddlers can be improved. Guava was chosen for the purpose as it is rich in vitamin C — nearly four times than that of orange. Also, guava is easily available for the most part of the year, affordable and has a longer shelf life.
Speaking to Express, Dr K Madhavan Nair, one of the researchers, explained, “Vitamin C boosts the absorption of nonheme iron which is available in the various items consumed as part of a meal. While the human body usually absorbs only 5-10 per cent of the iron available in a meal, if a vitamin C-rich fruit is consumed, the absorption doubles to 10-20 per cent.” He further said vitamin C also helps in overcoming hurdles in iron absorption, which the human body faces due to the presence of Phytates and Polyphenols in foods such as cereals and pulses.
Simply adding guava to the toddlers’ diet will not suffice as the fruit will not solve the problem of anaemia. Sylvia Fernandez-Rao, Scientist-D, NIN, who conducted the study, said: “Adding a vitamin C-rich fruit like guava in the diet will boost the absorption of iron. But firstly, the diet has to be rich in iron.”
She added, “The diet provided at anganwadis contains only 15 per cent of the recommended dietary allowance of iron for preschool-aged children. It is necessary that not just the diet at anganwadis but also the food served at home must be rich in iron. It should comprise green leafy vegetables and fortified cereals. Moreover, adding a vitamin C-rich fruit to the meal will have other functionary benefits, such as reduced ARIs as observed in our study.”
According to the National Family Health Survey-4, the prevalence of anaemia among children aged six-59 months in the country is almost 59 per cent and that of ARIs among rural children around 3 per cent.