Prevention of iron deficiency anemia among women of reproductive age by diet intervention

Iron deficiency anemia is the most widespread nutritional disorder worldwide. Especially this problem relevant for the women of reproductive age. Diet interventions like adding vitamin C in diet, intake of fortified iron products and red meat in everyday meals might serve as a good tool for prevention of anemia. The aim of this study was evaluating the effectiveness of these dietary interventions for improving iron status among woman of reproductive age (18-45 years old). The main method of the study included systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies. The search was done by sources like PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar. Eligible studies were exploring the intervention to the diet by Vitamin C, red meat and iron fortified products and assessing the changes in Serum Ferritin and hemoglobin as main outcome. Data was combined by using random-effect model. In total 16 studies were included. 5 were investigated red meat dietary intervention, 6 assessed the effect of Vitamin C on iron status and 5 studies examined the effect of iron-fortified products and its relationship with iron status. The regular consumption of red meat showed overall positive effect on the Serum Ferritin level, while adding into the diet vitamin C and iron fortified products showed the improvement in hemoglobin level. The conclusion is that dietary strategies, especially the ones that include regular consumption of vitamin C, red meat and iron fortified products can significantly improve iron status among women of reproductive age. These findings can support food-based approaches as one of the suitable methods for preventing iron deficiency anemia.