EARLY RESPONSE TO THE EFFECT OF IRON FORTIFICATION IN THE VENEZUELAN POPULATION

In Venezuela a severe economic crisis beginning in 1983 provoked a pro gressive reduction of the quality and quantity of food consumed by the low socioeconomic strata of the population. In these strata, which re present greater than or equal to 80% of the Venezuelan population, we had seen a continuous increase in the prevalence of iron deficiency du ring that recent decade. As a result, in 1993 the Venezuela Government created the Special Commission for Enrichment of Foods. That same yea r a fortification program began in which precooked yellow and white ma ize and wheat flours were enriched with 20 and 50 mg Fe (as ferrous fu marate)/kg flour, respectively. The corn flour was also enriched with vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin, whereas the wheat flour w as enriched with these same vitamins, except vitamin A. These two cere als represent 45% of the total energy consumed daily by the low socioe conomic strata of the population. A preliminary survey carried out in Caracas in 1994 in a population of 307 children aged 7, 11, and 15 y s howed that the prevalence of iron deficiency determined by measuring t he serum ferritin concentration and the prevalence of anemia were redu ced from 37% and 19%, respectively, in 1992 to 15% and 10%, respective ly in 1994.