53 per cent women of reproductive age are anaemic

BENGALURU : Every year, January 10 is celebrated as ‘Dietetics Day’ throughout India to raise awareness about nutrition and its importance to our health. This year, the theme for Dietetics Day is ‘Anaemia Mukth Bharath’. Anaemia has now become a national concern as the statistics are alarming in our country.

According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), the prevalence of anaemia is the highest among children who are six months to five years old. Anaemia is prevalent across socio-economic backgrounds but more so in rural than urban areas. Children, adolescent girls and women of reproductive age are more prone to anaemia.

One needs to understand that anaemia is a simple condition which can be set right by taking a nutritious balanced diet which is rich in iron and vitamin C. This apart, it is also important to de-worm your child every six months as parasites in the stomach can also cause anaemia. 

Making healthy diet a part of your everyday life not just helps in preventing anaemia, but it helps in keeping you healthy and thus, keeps you away from a host of other diseases as well. Listed here are simple steps that can be followed in one’s daily meal plan in order to prevent anaemia:

Ensure that your diet consists of food items that are rich in iron. Animal foods such as liver, red meat, fish, Dates, Jaggery, Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, are some such products that contain iron. Follow a diet that consists of Vitamin C such as amla, lime, lemon, all citrus fruits such as oranges, musumbi, strawberries and  guava. Vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron in the body.
 
– The author is a clinical nutritionist & chief dietician at Brains Hospital, Bengaluru

NFHS-4 survey

Age group     Prevalence
Children 
(6-59 months)    58%
Adolescent Boys 
(15-19 years)     29%
Adolescent Girls 
(15-19 years)     54%
Women of reproductive age     53%