Review Article
Effect of Iron Fortified Milk and Milk Products on Anemia Status among the Population – A Review
Vohra K1, Mittal M2, Verma A2, Keshri A2, Dhasmana A2, Khandelwal R3, Ramaswamy G4, Gupta S1, Singh N3, Gawande K3 and Yadav K1*
1National Centre of Excellence and Advanced Research on Anemia Control, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India
2M.Sc. Scholar, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi, India
3Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India
4Centre for Community and Family Medicine, Bibinagar, India
*Corresponding author:
Yadav K, National Centre of Excellence and Advanced Research on Anemia Control, Centre for
Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India; Email: dr.kapilyadav@gmail.com
Submission: 14/03/2021;
Accepted: 07/04/2021;
Published: 10/04/2021
Copyright: © 2021 Vohra K, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency in the world, primarily affecting infants, young children, and women of childbearing
age. Different products like animal milk, fermented milk and yogurt can be used as the vehicle for iron fortification.
Objective: To assess the iron status among the population consuming iron-fortified milk and milk products.
Methods: A Systematic, thorough search was done from the available online literature. Different web-based search engines like google scholar and
PubMed were used to search the relevant literature on this topic. Different keywords like ‘fortification’, ‘iron’, ‘milk and milk products’, ‘anaemia’ and ‘iron
status’ were used to search related articles. Mainly randomized control trial and intervention studies were selected. Research articles relevant to the topic
were screened, a total of 652 articles were found through a systematic literature search. Out of 652, 15 articles were read by two authors independently, and
results were analyzed.
Results: Significant decrease in the prevalence of anaemia (ranging from 40% to 13.7%) was observed when consuming iron fortified milk and milk
products. There is a positive correlation between the intake of fortified milk and haemoglobin status. In most of the studies, a significant increase in the
haemoglobin status was observed. A Positive correlation was seen of different vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin D with iron absorption in the body.
Conclusion: Iron fortification of milk and milk products can be used as an effective and efficient way to combat anemia at the national level.