Table 1.
Summary of literature on the effect of cooking in iron containing cookware and using iron ingot on anemia status of the study participants
| Author | Year | Country | Study design and duration | Participant Characteristics | Intervention | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borigato EV, et al. [25] | 1998 | Brazil | RCT++ 8 months |
n= 45 Age= 4 months ##M:F-10:12 (Fe* pot) M:F-11:12 (Al# pot) |
Infants consumed food prepared in Fe pot or Al pot | Mean hemoglobin (+0.52g/l) in Fe pot significantly increased as compared to Al pot (-0.74g/dl) |
| Adish AA, et al. [27] | 1999 | Ethiopia | RCT 12 months |
n= 407 Age= 2-5 years M:F-99:96 (Fe pot) M:F-106:106 (Al pot) |
Three meals cooked in Al, clay & Fe pot. Consumption of food prepared in Fe & Al pots |
More increase in crude Fe content in meat and vegetables than legumes Hb+ increased by 1.7g/dL from baseline (p=0.008), proportion of IDA** reduced from 57% to 13% |
| Geerligs, et.al. [23] | 2003 | Malawi | RCT 5 months |
n= 322 Age: <12 yrs M:F-0.9 (Fe pot) M:F-1.1 (Al pot) Age: >12yrs M:F- 0.6 (Fe pot) M:F- 0.7 (Al pot) |
Fe or Al cooking pot assigned for cooking | < 12 years: No increase in Hb, > 12 years: Significant Hb rise at 6 weeks (+0.36g/dl) & 20 weeks (+0.53g/dl) in consistent Fe pot users (p<0.05) |
| Geerligs PP, et al. [24] | 2004 | Malawi | Experimental laboratory trial | Three Malawian meals prepared in two Fe pots and a glass pot | Fe content improved from 3.15 μg to 147.32 μg/g in food, when cooked in Fe pot Continuous cooking further increased Fe content by 2.9 μg to 20.1 μg Fe/g. |
|
| Sharieff W, et.al [28] | 2007 | Benin, Africa | Cluster RCT 6 months |
n=71 children, age= 6-24 months; n=92 adolescent girls, age=11-15 years; n= 131women, age=15-44 years |
Two groups used cast Fe or blue steel pots and controls had Fe supplements | Insignificant differences in mean Hb or IDA among groups, SF+++ was higher in control group (p<0.0001) |
| Charles CV, et al. [19] | 2010 | Cambodia | RCT 6 months |
n=189 women Age= >16y with haematocrit >30% |
3 groups: control, received Fe fish with no follow up and received Fe fish with follow up | No significant change in Hb |
|
Charles CV, et al. [20] |
2011 | Cambodia | Experimental study | - | 4 groups: Controls: glass pot and Al pot; glass pot with Fe fish; and Al pot with Fe ingot | Use of iron ingot while making water and soup samples met more daily iron needs |
| Charles CV, et al. [21] | 2015 | Cambodia | RCT 12 months |
n=310 pre- and post-menopausal women |
3 groups: Fe ingot, Fe ingot plus nutrition education, and untreated control group | Mean Hb concentration varied by 1.18 g/dL across control and treatment group (p<0.001) IDA reduced by 46% in intervention group |
| Kulkarni SA, et al. [18] | 2013 | India | Randomised trial 4 months |
n= 27 pre-schoolers, mean age 2.9±0.9y M:F- 12:15 |
Supplementation with a snack cooked in Fe pot, for 5 days/week | Hb improved from 10.1±1.6 to 10.9±1.7 g/dL (p<0.001) IDA reduced by 19% |
| Rappaport AI, et al. [22] | 2017 | Cambodia | RCT 12 months |
n=327 women, mean age 32 years | 3 groups: iron-ingot, iron-supplement (18 mg/d), and control group | Insignificant differences in mean Hb concentration among iron-supplement or ingot group compared with control |
| Arcanjo FPN, et al. [26] | 2017 | Brazil | Cluster RCT 16 weeks |
n=175 preschoolers Age= < 59 months M:F- 52:41 (Fe pot) M:F- 48:34 (Al pot) |
Consumption of food cooked in Fe pot or Al pot | No significant increase in Hb for non-IDA children, Hb (Fe vs. Al): +1.69g/dl vs. +1.10g/dl for anemic children No IDA in iron pot group |
| Xing Q, et al. [29] | 2017 | China | Experimental study | Panel of 12 trained tasters (4 males & 8 females) |
Five pea samples soaked in deionized water, boiled in Fe pot & clay pot with variable iron content (0, 0.05, 0.50, 5.00 mg/L FeSO4) and freeze dried. | Pea pastes in Fe pot had 3.3 times higher Fe content (21.4±1.0 mg) than clay pot (p<0.05), more FeSO4 (wt/vol), more Fe content in pea |
| Cheng YJ, et al. [30] | 1991 | USA | Experimental study | - | Fe content compared in raw sauce samples, sauce prepared in Fe pot and non Fe pot | Apple sauce (Fe pot vs. non Fe pot vs. raw): 6.26mg vs. 0.18mg vs. 0.26mg/100g (p>0.05), Spaghetti sauce (Fe vs. non-Fe pot vs. raw): 2.10mg vs. 0.44mg vs. 0.22mg/100 g (p<0.05) |
*Fe: Iron,
+Hb: Hemoglobin,
++RCT: Randomised control trial,
#Al: Aluminium,
**IDA: Iron deficiency anemia,
+++SF: Serum ferritin,
##M:F : Male: female ratio in study