Abstract
The iron deficiency anemia is relatively common among young women in Tunisia. Phytotherapy has a place in the treatment of this deficiency anemia. Objective: The objective of this work is to describe the perception of anemic women vis-à-vis the use of herbs and dietary and adapted through a survey in Greater Tunis. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted among 124 anemic women, recruited from public health facilities in Greater Tunis. Results: The majority of women surveyed (84.7%) had secondary or university education, 10.5% primary and 4.8% were illiterate. Among the women surveyed, 93.5% received a replacement iron-based medical treatment. Among the iron-rich foods, they are legumes that were most appreciated by almost all respondents. While food sources of vitamin B12 and folate were ignored by the majority of women (68%). Two out of three women were unaware of the importance of meat products as the main source of iron, vitamin B12 and folate. Almost half of the women had the habit of consuming tea every day just after meals and they convict that increases the amount of blood. The frequency of the use of traditional medicinal plants by women surveyed in order to treat their anemia was 40%. These women were often advised to use plants by other anemic women and traditional herbalists whose skills in this area were acquired by experience and transmitted from father to son without adequate scientific training. The plants most frequently used were fenugreek, cumin, oregano, rosemary and parsley. Conclusion: These data clearly found the need to intervene for better education of women and girls by the establishment of a nutrition education program associated with other environmental actions. If herbal keeps a place in iron deficiency anemia, the practice of herbal medicine and the preparation of its remedies require the acquisition of institutional competence within the public health authorities whose training must be constantly updated.
Highlights
Nutritional anemia is a major public health problem
Our survey showed that 18.5% of anemic women only frequently consumed food sources of iron, vitamin B12 and folate with a predominance of legumes and green vegetables
The majority of women thought that the diet is useful for the prevention and treatment of anemia, in contrast, only 19.4% regularly followed dietary advice, These results confirm those of other national and international studies [5]-[7] [14] [15]. These data show clearly found the need to intervene for better education of women and girls by the establishment of a nutrition education program associated with other environmental actions
Summary
Nutritional anemia is a major public health problem. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are in the world 1.6 billion anemic people. The investigation by the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology in 2002 on nutritional anemia in Tunisia showed that they affect more women of childbearing age in Greater Tunis (28.9%) than in the South West (30.7%). This is essentially moderate anemia (hemoglobin between 10.9 and 7 g/dl). In parallel with the use of plants in the treatment of some diseases, diet plays an important role in the prevention and mitigation of some chronic diseases It is in this context that we realized this work, which aims to describe the perception of anemic women against the use of herbs and dietary and adapted through a survey in Greater Tunis. The results of this work could be conductive lines for programming of health and nutrition education programs intension of young anemic women and herbalists
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
