[ prevalence of iron deficiency anemia [IDA] based on hematologic indices in non-pregnant women aged 15-45 in Zanjan]

Iron deficiency anemia is a major public health problem worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Women especially during reproductive life are vulnerable group. Around 1/3 of the world's population suffers from anemia and nutritional deficiency is to blame as the most significant factor. About 350 million women and 50% of the children in developing countries are anemic. This disease has a high prevalence in our country and according to the statistis released by the nutrition improvement office, 50% of women aged 15-49 suffer from various degrees of anemia and 34% have severe anemia. Since no surveys about IDA have been carried out on non-pregnant women in Zanjan, this study was carried out with the aim of determining IDA indices among non-pregnant women aged 15-45 in Zanjan. In this descriptive cross-sectional study 33 clusters were randomly selected using the city map and out of each cluster 10 non-pregnant women aged 15-45 were studied [total: 330 people]. The data was collected through a general questionnaire, taking 5ml blood sample from right arm, and running tests on blood samples. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCHC, ferritin, serum iron, TIBC and transferring saturation were determined, then the mean values were calculated and the prevalence of IDA was measured on the basis of blood indices. IDA values were 23.6%, 47.3%, 14.5%,24.2%,39.6%, 18.2% and 30.3% in terms of hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCHC, serum iron, TIBC, transferrin saturation and ferritin, respectively, with the lowest value belonging to MCHC and the highest value to hematocrit. IDA has a relatively high prevalence among the studied women which stands above the country's average, likely to be regarded as a public health priority. Thus, the women should be trained against wrong nutritional habits as well as receiving iron supplement in the short run, enrichment of foodstuff with iron is also recommended as a preventive plan

effectiveness of medical nutrition therapy for the control of weight and fasting blood sugar in the type 2 diabetic patients

Although the short-term benefit of medical nutrition therapy [MNT] on the management of diabetes has been shown by previous studies, long-term efficiency of MNT has not been adequately investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of MNT during a 1-year follow-up period in the type II diabetic patients. In a follow-up study, 163 newly-diagnosed type II diabetic patients received MNT, including the educational materials on calorie, quantity and frequency of food intake, as well as the snacks. Patients were asked to have a second nutritional consulting after 1 month. Body weight, FBS and HbA1c were measured at 3, 6 and 12-month intervals and the results were compared using repeated-measures ANOVA. The mean of patients' age was 51.2 +/- 9.3 years. HbA1c, weight and BMI decreased significantly after 3 months of MNT [p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.01, respectively], followed by continuous but non-significant decrease in the mentioned variables during the next 9 months. Though the weight, BMI, FBS and HbA1c did not decrease significantly beyond 3 months of MNT, but the changes were significant as compared to the beginning of the study. It is probable to enhance the long-term effect of MNT on weight and glycemic control by increasing the number of sessions of nutritional consulting