Authors: Maria Cecilia Formoso Assunção Ina S Santos; Aluisio J D Barros; Denise Petrucci Gigante; Cesar Gomes Victora (2004-2006)

Law in Brazil established the iron fortification of flour in 2004. Researchers from CPE evaluated the impact of this fortification on the level of hemoglobin in children aged 0 to 6 years old.

The study was conducted at Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, and it consisted of three evaluations at a 12-month interval. In May 2004, before the iron fortification of flour was implemented, it was tested the hemoglobin levels of a probabilistic sample of 453 children.After twelve and twenty-four months, samples of 923 and 863 children were studied, respectively.

The three analysed groups were comparable in terms of demographic and socioeconomic features. No fortification effect was observed in the children's hemoglobin levels, which can be partially explained by the insufficient flour intake and/or by the low bioavailability of dietary iron.