Interdependence of vitamin A and iron: an important association for programmes of anaemia control

摘要

Nutritional anaemia and vitamin A deficiency are two of the most prevalent nutritional problems in the developing countries (United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination/Subcommittee on Nutrition, 1992). Anaemia affects over one billion people, particularly women of reproductive age and preschool children in tropical and sub-tropical zones. Over 40% of all women in developing countries are anaemic, equivalent to just over 370 million women, and at least half the anaemia worldwide is due todietary Fe deficiency (United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination/ Subcommittee on Nutrition, 1992). Vitamin A deficiency, defined by eye signs, has been identified as a public health problem in thirty-seven countries worldwide and an estimated 190 million children are suffering from subclinical or clinical vitamin A deficiency (Humphrey et al. 1992).