Daniel Luban
WASHINGTON, Jul 26 2007 (IPS) – A nutritional supplement known as Sprinkles, which is a simple powder that parents can easily add to their children #39s food, reduces childhood anaemia by more than half, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition.
Packets of Sprinkles in different languages. Credit: Sprinkles Global Health Initiative
The study, conducted in rural Haiti by a team based at Cornell University in the United States and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), suggests that Sprinkles could be a potent tool for public health groups attempting to combat childhood anaemia.
When combined with other food aid initiatives, the potential impact is huge, said IFPRI #39s Marie Ruel, a co-author of the study.
The study also found that merely fortifying cereals with iron, a widespread tactic in the fight against anaemia, is ineffective on its own in preventing the disease among young children.
Iron-deficiency anaemia is a shortage of the protein hemoglobin in red blood cells. It can stunt physical and mental development in children and result in poor health and even death. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that iron-deficiency anaemia afflicts two billion people worldwide and 40 percent of preschool-age children in developing countries.
Among the children who received Sprinkles mixed into their food for two months, the incidence of anaemia declined from 54 percent to 24 percent, the study found. And even seven months after the children stopped taking Sprinkles, the rate of anaemia had declined even further, to 14 percent.
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Although other anti-anaemia methods are widely used, Ruel said they face serious problems with compliance, supply and effectiveness. Iron syrups have been shown to reduce anaemia when they are taken properly, but parents often find it difficult to get small children to take them.
These syrups typically have a really bad taste, a metallic kind of taste, which means that children don #39t like them and spit them out, Ruel told IPS. They also cause darkening of the teeth, and for parents there #39s an issue of measuring the syrup properly.
The study found that the use of iron-fortified food, such as wheat-soy blend or corn-soy blend, failed to reduce anaemia among young children on its own. In fact, the incidence of anaemia actually rose among the children who received only wheat-soy blend without Sprinkles.
Ruel is confident that Sprinkles a dry powder containing iron, zinc, and other vitamins could get around the problems facing iron syrups and other anti-anaemia measures.
The Sprinkles powder is colourless and doesn #39t affect the taste [of the food], she said. So mothers see that their children are not rejecting the product, and both mothers and children accept it.
The Sprinkles treatment is also relatively cheap. A two-month supply of the powder costs about two dollars, according to IFPRI. And it comes in small pre-packaged sachets, each containing a one-day supply, which makes dosage easy for parents.
Since 2005, the social marketing organisation Population Services International has been marketing Sprinkles commercially in Haiti under the name Babyfer .
While previous studies have shown the effectiveness of Sprinkles in treating anaemia, the IFPRI/Cornell study is the first to show that the Sprinkles treatment could be successfully integrated into an existing food aid programme. The research team worked with a World Vision-Haiti programme that has been active in Haiti #39s Central Plateau region for several years.
This finding is promising, says Ruel, because it suggests that Sprinkles could be distributed through existing aid channels relatively easily.
I think the more promising avenue [compared to commercially marketing Sprinkles] is to work through UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and other non-governmental organisations that have maternal and child health and nutrition programmes, she said.
They are very receptive to the idea of replacing current approaches [to combating anaemia] with Sprinkles. There are lots of food aid programmes in the world and it would be very easy to give out Sprinkles along with the food in the context of food distribution.
Sprinkles were developed in the late 1990s by Dr. Stanley Zlotkin, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, according to the Sprinkles Global Health Initiative, an organisation headed by Dr. Zlotkin that oversees distribution of the product.
