Prevalence of Folic Acid And Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Anemic Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents may enjoy nourishment trends, macrobiotic weight control plans and semi-starvation regimens in calories, nutrients and minerals. Protein need in a juvenile for every unit body weight is higher than that of grown up; however, not exactly a quickly developing newborn child. Adolescence has higher nutrient and mineral needs contrasted and individuals all things considered other life stages. A community-based cross-sectional study of 200 school going anaemic adolescents of age group 10 – 19 years. A predesigned semi-organized survey was readied dependent on the audit of writing on Adolescent iron deficiency. The study included 200 anaemic adolescents belonging to two schools, 89 were males, and 111 were females. Male: female ratio was 1.25:1. Among a total of 200 participants, 122 anaemic adolescents belonged to early adolescence. The mean age of anaemic adolescent participants of this study was 13.19 years with a standard deviation of 1.23. among the participants, 137 anaemic adolescents took a vegetarian diet, and 63 anaemic adolescents took a mixed diet. There were three participants underweight according to BMI classification, and 190 had normal range of BMI, 132 adolescents had moderate anaemia (Hb- 8.0 to 10.9 ). Majority of 66.5%(133/200) had Vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia, 72.5%(145/200) had folic acid deficiency anaemia, and 58.5% (117/200) had combined Vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency anaemia. Prevalence of anaemia in adolescent is a significant public health concern. Supplementation with not only iron and folic acid but also Vitamin B12 may be need of the day. Besides supplementation adequate education regarding quality food, cooking practices and health education is also necessary to be emphasized in adolescents.