OBJECTIVE: The impact of the cassava flour fortified with iron amino acid chelate was evaluated in 80 pre-scholars of a Philanthropic Unit of Manaus, state of Amazonas, randomly distributed in four groups of 20 children each, for a period of 120 days. METHODS: Cassava flour was used without fortification (group zero) or fortified with 1, 2 and 3mg of Fe/day, corresponding respectively to 5, 10 and 15g of flour/day, which were given to the children at lunch time on weekdays. The equivalent amount was previously distributed to their families for flour intake also during the weekends. In the beginning and at the end of the experiment the children's nutritional status was evaluated, being adopted the cutoff point <-2 Z-scores as a discriminating limit between eutrophy/malnutrition, in agreement with the World Health Organization criteria, as well as being established as a cutoff point for the occurrence of iron deficiency anemia a hemoglobin rate of less than 11g/dL. RESULTS: At the end of this study, children recovered from chronic malnutrition, and a significant increase (p <5%) of the hemoglobin rates, independently of iron concentration, from 11.4±0.9g/dL to 12.2±0.8g/dL, was observed in all individuals. The formerly anemic children who received cassava flour fortified with 2mg of Fe/day were fully recovered at the end of the research, demonstrating a good performance of this group in relation to the others. CONCLUSION: A double-blind study is suggested for the consolidation of the recommendation of cassava flour fortified with iron in the prevention of iron deficiency anemia in pre-scholars of the Amazon region.
flour; child; preschool; anemia; iron chelaling agents; nutrition disorders; hemoglobins
