Will date consumption in 10 year old girl cure anemia??

[Ritu]

Hi,
I am a mother of a 10 year old girl. My daughter is anemic, she does not eat well. Doctor has diagnosed that she is anemic and her Hemoglobin level is 9. It is a great matter of concern for me. She is becoming pale and weak day by day. Doctor has prescribed some iron tonic and multivitamins. She is not willing to take medicines. I got to know that date consumption is good for anemic patients. I would like to know that how much effective is it? Is there any scientific evidence? Please comment.

[Anisha]

@ritu Hello Ritu, Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the most common nutritional problems in girl child. The best and most cost-effective ways to prevent IDA are changes in people’s dietary habits and their nutrition education. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a combination of four basic strategies including iron supplementation, appropriate nutrition education, the enrichment of foods with iron compounds, and the control of parasitic and infectious diseases to prevent and control anemia and iron deficiency anemia. Lack of knowledge in both nutritional needs and nutritional values of different foods is a major contributor to the prevalence of malnutrition among primary school children and vulnerable groups. Dates (Phoenix dactylifera) are one among the fruits used in the human diet that possess a high nutritional value. There are 314 calories in 100 g of date. Ten minerals are reported, the major being selenium, copper, potassium, and magnesium. The consumption of 100 g of dates can provide over 15% of the recommended daily allowance from these minerals. In addition, the amount of iron in dates is about 0.3 mg to 10.4 mg per 100 g. Therefore, eating a few dates daily will provide your body’s daily iron. Also, dates contain vitamin C and fiber, which increase iron absorption. Yossef et al (2015) found that the use of dates in the treatment of IDA of children is beneficial and the iron content in 100 g of black dates is reported to be 166.5 mg. Dates have also been shown to contain other properties that are useful in treatment or prevention of events such as fatigue, reinforcement of kidney, chronic cough, rheumatoid arthritis and back pain, diarrhea, kidney stone, and peptic ulcers.