Efficacy of Iron Rich Biscuit on the Haemoglobin Status of School Going Girls

The present study was carried out to develop an iron rich premix and its impact on haemoglobin (Hb) level of school going girls (n=50) of government Maharani Sr. Sec. School, Bikaner (Raj). Mean Hb of subjects were appeared to be 7.78 g/dl. Clinical investigation observed that 100 per cent subjects were suffering from anemia out of which 35 per cent of subjects were showing the signs of iron deficiency anemia like pale conjunctiva (46%) and pale nails (24%). The processed pearl millet flour, soybean flour, roasted Bengal gram flour, rice flakes powder, niger seed and lotus stem powder were incorporated to develop an iron rich premix. Later the biscuits were developed using these premix. An intervention was done for the subject in two groups i.e. experimental and control. Experimental group received iron rich biscuit with anola candy for 45 days and control group did not receive such supplementation. Intervention programme brought out the significant (P<0.05) mean increment in haemoglobin levels as 1.63g/dl in experimental group and nonsignificant increment noted for control group. Hence, the intervention was significantly effective for correcting iron deficiency anemia.