Haemoglobin-E in the presence of oxidative substances from fava bean may be protective against Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

A case-control study was carried out at a community hospital in eastern Thailand in order to study the association between haemoglobin E and Plasmodium falciparum malaria; 271 P. falciparum cases and 271 controls were enrolled. After adjusting for age, sex, time since last malaria attack, history of mosquito net use, and history of fava bean consumption in the previous month, neither heterozygous nor homozygous haemoglobin E provided significant protection against P. falciparum infection, with odds ratios (OR) = 0.91 (95% confidence limits = 0.61, 1.36) and 0.78 (0.34, 1.82) respectively when compared to persons with haemoglobin A who were not consumers of fava beans. However, haemoglobin E carriers who ate fava beans were significantly protected against P. falciparum malaria with OR = 0.26 (0.09, 0.76) and OR = 0.001 (0.00, 1120.59) for subjects with heterozygous and homozygous haemoglobin E, respectively. The study suggests a possible synergistic protective effect of haemoglobin E on the risk of P. falciparum malaria in subjects who have consumed fava beans.

The effect of riboflavin on the hematologic changes in iron supplementation of schoolchildren.

A supplementation trial was carried out in 101 children, 6-12 years of age, in 3 primary schools in a rural area. Their hemoglobin level and PCV (mean +/- SD) were 11.64 +/- 1.21 g/dl and 0.356 +/- 0.028 respectively, 74% of them were anemic and the hemoglobin level were correlated with the MCHC (P < .01) . Fifty-one per cent of them had hookworm infection and all those with hemoglobin levels below 10 g/dl had hookworm infection, but there was no difference in mean hemoglobin level between those with hookworm infection and those without. The children were divided into 3 groups: Group I comprising 39 children who received placebo tablest; Group II of 33, who received ferrous sulphate (60 mg elemental iron); Group III of 29, who received ferrous sulphate (60 mg elemental iron) with riboflavin (6mg). Each child received one tablet after lunch on schooldays and evaluation was carried out after receiving 80 to 90 tablets. The mean hemoglobin change of Group II was 0.60 g/dl larger than that of Group I (P < .005) with 52% of them responding to iron. The mean hemoglobin change of Group III was 0.38 g/dl larger than that of Group II (P < .005) with 86% of them responding to iron and riboflavin. Thus additional riboflavin is beneficial in iron supplementation.