title: Empowering a tea-plantation community to improve its micronutrient health.
abstract: This project was designed to convince and empower management and plantation workers to improve their own nutritional health status and productivity. Plantations are generally bypassed by the government's primary health-care system. A nine-month intervention with iron (60 mg of elemental iron) and vitamin A supplementation and iodized salt was performed on the Balanoor Plantations in India. Of the women tea pickers, 99% (n = 334) received the supplements and bought the iodized salt from the plantation ration shop. Their mean hemoglobin level rose significantly from 11.0 to 11.9 g/dl. The women pickers gave the supplements to their families as well as themselves. The results were the same whether iron was given once or twice a week. The mean hemoglobin level of the women pickers rose significantly from 11.1 to 12.0 g/dl with the twice-weekly dose and from 10.9 to 11.8 g/dl with the weekly dose. The prevalence of clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency in the entire plantation population (about 2,500) was reduced significantly (from 19% to 4%), as was iodine deficiency (from 17% to 7%). Common health problems decreased from 88% to 54%. The number of patients referred to larger hospitals decreased significantly from 116 to 86. Absenteeism was not affected.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gopaldas
authors.forename: Sunder
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gujral
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D019266:Iron, Dietary; D018977:Micronutrients; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary; D014801:Vitamin A