Anemia Prevention

Many types of anemia can't be prevented. However, some common forms of anemia are most easily prevented by eating a healthy diet that includes foods rich in iron, folate and vitamin B-12, and limiting alcohol use.

For child, who have little variety to choose from, breast milk and not cow’s milk, is recommended since infants absorb about 50% iron from breast milk in comparison to 12% from cow’s milk. After completing a year, child should be made to drink milk from open cups.

For adult women and teenagers, the requirement is less than 18mg a day. However, during pregnancy, a large volume of blood is required to support the foetus and in turn the risk of iron deficiency automatically increases. Medically speaking, women require about 30-60mg of iron during pregnancy. Post-menopause, women need about 8-10mg of iron a day.

Well-balanced diet. Make sure that you regularly eats foods that contain iron. Good choices include iron-fortified grains and cereals, red meat, egg yolks, leafy green vegetables, yellow vegetables and fruits, potato skins, tomatoes, molasses, and raisins.

The best sources of iron are beef and other meats. Other foods rich in iron include beans, lentils, iron-fortified cereals, dark green leafy vegetables, dried fruit, nuts and seeds. Folate, and its synthetic form, folic acid, can be found in citrus juices and fruits, dark green leafy vegetables, legumes and fortified breakfast cereals. Vitamin B-12 is plentiful in meat and dairy products. Foods containing vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, help increase iron absorption.

Eating plenty of iron-containing foods is particularly important for people who have high iron requirements, such as children — iron is needed during growth spurts — and pregnant and menstruating women. Adequate iron intake is also crucial for infants, strict vegetarians and long-distance runners.

Intake of iron has to be effective and to have the desired effect iron helpers have to be included in the diet. Vegetables have non-heme iron which is difficult to absorb. Compared to 15% absorption rate in non-vegetarian food items, it is only 5% in vegetarian ones. Vitamin C rich fruits (iron helpers) perfectly suit the purpose. Thus, intake of iron rich food simultaneously with a glass of lemon juice or orange juice only enhances the iron absorption. Other iron absorption enhancers are broccoli, tomato juice and sprouts and strawberries Red wine, calcium, caffeine, milk and tannin, on the other hand, are inhibitors.