Affiliation:
1. Institute of Food Science and Nutrition University of Sargodha Sargodha Pakistan
2. Department of AHS Sargodha Medical College, University of Sargodha Sargodha Pakistan
3. University Institute of Food Science and Technology, The University of Lahore Lahore Pakistan
4. Department of Food Science Government College University Faisalabad Faisalabad Pakistan
5. Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad Pakistan
6. Zoology Department College of Science, King Saud University Riyadh Saudi Arabia
7. Department of Botany Hindu College Moradabad (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University Bareilly) Moradabad India
8. Department of Food and Science and Technology Ho Technical University Ho Ghana
Abstract
AbstractThe study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of sweet basil leaf powder as a natural source of iron for the treatment of anemia in adolescent girls. Purposive sampling technique of two‐stage sampling; part of the nonprobability sampling approach. Out of 2400 approached adolescent girls, 1645 agreed to participate and their nutritional status was assessed. Of these, 89.95% had clinical signs and symptoms of anemia, and 59.79% were found to be anemic based on Hb levels. From the anemic group, 65.18% were randomly selected to receive either B0 (Control), B1 (12.699 g FeSO4.7H2O/100 g), and B3 (16 g SBLP/100 g) cookies for 4 months. At the end of the intervention, the assessment of nutritional status, complete blood count, serum iron, serum ferritin, serum total iron‐binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation was explored. Hematological parameters such as Hb, Hct, TIBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC, serum iron, and serum ferritin were significant (p ≤ .05). The result showed that the serum Fe was highest in group B3 while a significant decline was noted for group B0. Serum ferritin for B1 was better than B3. The entire treatment for transferrin saturation showed a highly significant increasing trend in B3 and B1, regardless of the control. TIBC levels raised in the control group while in all other treatments, it declined. The study demonstrated that SBLP‐fortified cookies can be an effective treatment option for anemia, as evidenced by significant improvements in key hematological parameters.