SHARADA, D.MOUSMEE SOOD2018-06-062018-06-061999D5931http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810049472hildrenandwomenofchild-bearingagearethesegmentsofpopulationat greaterriskbecauseoftheincreasedrequirementsforgrowthandreproduction. Theprevalenceofirondeficiencyanaemiaindevelopingcountriesis46to51% forchildrenand42%forwomen(Picciano, 1999). Ironsupplementationbyiron richfoodpreparationsisoneofthemethodstocombatthisproblem. Thepresent studywasinitiatedwiththemainobjectiveofprocessinganddevelopinganiron richproductfromlocallyavailablefoodsourcesandtoevaluateitsimpactasan ironsupplementtochildren. Fortyfivechildrenintheagegroupof7to9yearswerescreenedfromthe UpperPrimaryGovernmentSchoolinavillageinRangaReddyDistrictofAndhra Pradesh,andbasedontheirHblevels,thirtysixchildrenhavingHblevelsbelow 11g/dlwereselectedforthestudy.Itwasobservedthat80%ofthechildrenwere anaemicand had poorgrowth and nutritional status, withmajorityofthemin grade IImalnutrition(50%). ThechildrenweregroupedaspertheirHblevels according to age and gender. Care was taken to see that there were an equal numberofboysandgirlsineachagegroup. Tostudytheeffectofsupplementontheanaemicchildren,aproductwas developed using the locally available foods. A laddoo was prepared with processedjaggery,riceflakes,gardencressseedsandamaranthseeds(45:40:10:5). Thisproductwasalsotestedforitsacceptabilitybychildren. Dailysupplementationofaladdoo(50g)totheexperimentalgroup,fora period of 60 days, brought about a signi fi cant improvement in Hb levels, anthropometricparametersandthenutrientintakeascomparedtotheinitiallevels. Therewasslight improvementinthescholasticperformance. Theproductdevelopedshoweditsefficiencyincombatingirondeficiency anaemiainchildrenbyprogressiveshiftinhaemoglobinlevelstonextlevelinall thesubjects.ennullThesis