Table 3.

The main food-based strategies to combat iron deficiency (WHO and FAO, 2006).

	Dietary diversification	Food fortification	Supplementation
Definition	Inclusion and increased intake of foods rich in the target nutrient	Improvement of food nutritional quality via enhancing target nutrient content	Intake of moderately large doses of target nutrient. Can be done via oral (e.g., pills, capsules, or syrups) or intravenous routes
Examples	Leafy vegetables Pulses Red meat Seafood	Iron-fortified cereals, flour, and bread	Ferrous salts (e.g., ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, ferrous fumarate) Iron dextran Iron sucrose