Efficacy of Dietary Supplementation in the Form of Multigrain Panjiri in Managing Anaemia among Ethnic Tribal Women of Chhattisgarh

Abstract

As per the Government of India 2013 database, anaemia in India is a serious public health issue with a high prevalence of about 74 percent with haemoglobin< 11gm/dl. It’s prevalent in all age groups, nearly 58 percent in pregnant women, 50 percent among non-pregnant non-lactating women, 56 percent among adolescent girls. The situation is no different in Chhattisgarh. With a tag of tribal dominated state situation needs to be addressed carefully because of socio-economic status of tribal women is comparatively low. The present study assessed the efficacy of dietary supplementation in the form of multigrain panjiri in management of anaemia among ethnic tribal anaemic women of Chhattisgarh. In the study, 100 tribal women from tribal dominated region of Chhattisgarh were selected as sample. The age range of selected subjects was 19 to 25 years. The inclusion criteria for selection of subjects was WHO classification for anaemia. Cyanmet haemoglobin method was used for estimation of haemoglobin. Two groups were created with equal number of subjects in both the groups. The experimental group received dietary supplementation in the form of multigrain panjiri for three months while subjects belonging to control group were not supplemented the additional soya multigrain panjiri. Results reveal that after the study period, more percentage of selected tribal women from experimental group had normal haemoglobin levels as compared to their counterpart i.e. tribal women belonging to control group. It was concluded that soya multigrain panjiri when used as dietary supplement, is beneficial in increasing the haemoglobin levels and thereby useful in management of anaemia in tribal women.