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Nutritional status of schoolchildren in rural Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

Zahra Sarraf ,
Dena Goldberg ,
Mohammad Shahbazi ,
Kristen Arbuckle  and
Moosa Salehi
Zahra Sarraf
Affiliation:
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Dena Goldberg
Affiliation:
University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
Mohammad Shahbazi*
Affiliation:
Jackson State University, School of Public Health, Jackson, MS, USA
Kristen Arbuckle
Affiliation:
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA
Moosa Salehi
Affiliation:
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
*
*Corresponding author: Dr Mohammad Shahbazi, fax +1 601 368 2081, email mohammad.shahbazi@jsums.edu
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Abstract

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The present study compared the nutritional status of schoolchildren from recently settled, ethnic minority tribespeople with those from a Persian village in southern Iran. Height and weight were measured and blood was collected from school children at three time points over 1·5 years. Supplemental Fe was provided to children with low Hb after the first screening. Twenty-one per cent of the children were wasted, 57 % were stunted and 23 % were anaemic. No statistically significant difference in the prevalence of wasting, stunting and anaemia was found between gender or ethnic groups. Children over the age of 12 years had a higher prevalence of wasting than children aged below 12 years. In a sub-sample of forty-one children the average BMI-for-age decreased. Fe supplementation increased Hb levels to normal in most children, but did not increase Fe level in a few children. Dietary deficiency of micronutrients, especially Zn and Fe, probably accounts for the high prevalence of stunting and anaemia in these children. Infection with Helicobacter pylori is another possible explanation for the Fe-deficiency anaemia. Further investigation is in progress to determine the cause(s) of the observed deficiencies.

Keywords

IranQashqa'iSchoolchildren's health status
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 94 , Issue 3 , September 2005 , pp. 390 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2005

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