Introduction:

Childhood anemia is a public health concern that affects the physiological and intellectual development of the child.

Objective:

To evaluate the effect of ingesting cookies fortified with bovine blood on the hemoglobin levels of anemic children.

Methods:

Quasiexperimental study carried out with experimental and control groups, in the rural area of ​​San Andrés de Tupicocha de Huarochiri district of Lima, Peru, from August to December 2018. The study population consisted of 46 children aged 3-5 years, of which 32 participated under parental consent and 15 had hemoglobin lower than 11 g/dL. These made up the experimental group. On the other hand, 17 children had hemoglobin higher than 11 g/dL. These made up the control group. The Student's t-test was used (P<0.05).

Results:

In the experimental group, 12 weeks after ingestion of cookies fortified with bovine blood, an increase in hemoglobin in the blood was observed, from 10.4 g/dL to 11.6 g/dL (P<0.001); while the control group also registered an increase, from 11.7 g/dL to 12.1 g/dL (P=0.007). When comparing the increase in hemoglobin between both groups, it is observed that, in the control group, hemoglobin only rose by 0.5 g/dL, while, in the experimental group, it rose by 1.2 g/dL. Thus, the highest increase appeared in the experimental group that consumed the fortified cookies (P = 0.003).

Conclusion:

The ingestion of cookies fortified with bovine blood increased hemoglobin levels in children in a rural area, thus reducing the cases of childhood anemia.

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