Adding Iron to the World’s Diet

Billions of people worldwide suffer from iron deficiency anemia. Children in developing countries are at special risk for this condition, which affects their physical and mental development. An expert says the world’s most common nutritional disorder is preventable.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

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Durham, N.C. -- The statistics are staggering. More than two billion people worldwide, 30 percent of the earth’s population, suffer from anemia, or severe iron deficiency. This nutritional disorder lowers the body’s defenses to disease and diminishes body and brain functions. It’s a global public health problem that affects all parts of the world, according to Dennis Thiele, professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University Medical Center. “It’s most acute in developing countries, among people with a poor diet that would be deficient in iron and other trace elements that influence the acquisition of iron, as well as pregnant women.” Thiele says two principle factors can cause iron deficiency anemia. “Iron deficiency can be determined genetically. That can be partially overcome with iron supplements. Then of course there is the iron deficiency mediated by a diet that’s poor in iron. Certainly that can be overcome with iron supplementation.” According to Thiele, finding new, more effective ways of adding iron and other micronutrients to the diet of children in developing countries is essential to overcoming the world’s growing anemia epidemic. I’m Cabell Smith for MedMinute.