Fortificación de alimentos con hierro en Chile / Iron fortification of foods in Chile

En Chile la prevalencia de anemia por deficiencia de hierro de preescolares, escolares, adolescentes, hombres adultos y mujeres en edad fértil es baja. Sólo los lactantes y las embarazadas presentan una prevalencia significativa de anemia. Es altamente probable que la fortificación de la harina de trigo con hierro han influido en el mejoramiento del estado de nutrición de hierro de aquellos grupos etáreos de la población chilena que consume pan. La fortificación de la leche con hierro y ácido ascórbico es una efectiva estrategia para la prevención de la deficiencia de hierro en el lactante. Desde fines de 1998 el Programa Nacional de Alimentación Complementaria (PNAC) está entregando a los lactantes y embarazadas una leche completa en polvo fortificada con 10 mg de Fe, 5 mg de Zn, 0,5 mg de Cu y 70 mg de ácido ascórbico por 100 g de polvo. El objetivo de este programa es reducir la prevalencia de anemia en el lactante de un 27 - 30 por ciento a menos de un 5 por ciento

Situación de la nutrición de hierro en la embarazada adolescente al inicio de la gestación / Iron nutritional status in pregnant adolescents at the start of gestation

The frequency of anemia and iron nutrition deficiency was assessed in 342 low socioeconomic level pregnant teenagers at entry to prenatal care in 5 outpatient clinics from a South Orient area of Santiago Chile. According to the Center for Disease Control Criteria, 1.2 percent of women had iron deficiency anemia. Iron stores were insufficient (defined by a serum ferritin lower than 20 g/L) in 55 percent for women and depleted (serum ferritin lower than 10 g/L) in 21 percent. Women with more than 14 weeks of gestation had lower packed red cell volumes, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volumes and ferritin levels that women with less than 14 of gestation. It is concluded that the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia is lower than that predicted for a highly vulnerable group but the high frequency of low iron stores should encourage the use of iron supplementation in these teenagers

Valores normales del hemograma y otras variables hematológicas en sujetos mayores de 60 años / Standard values of blood cell count and other hematological counts in people older than 60 years old

We studied 36 men and 94 women aged 60 to 85 years, without nutritional deficiences or illness that could interfere with hematopiesis, to characterize the normal limits of red and white blood cell counts. Lower limit of hemoglobin normal values were 132 g/l for men and 125 g/l for women. The corresponding figures for MCV were 85 fl and 83 fl for men and women respectively. Lower and upper normal limits for leukocyte count in both sexes were 3.66 and 9.36 x 10 9/l. Hypersegmented neutrophils existed in 7 percent of men and 14 percent of women in spite that folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies were excluded. We concluded that blood cell counts of elderly people have mild deviations of normal values for young adults. Aged humans have a low white cell and bands counts, and elderly women have a higher hemoglobin concentration