Biscuits containing Moringa oleifera leaves flour improve conditions of anemia in pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE

This study analyzes whether anemia in pregnant women improves with indicators of increased hemoglobin, intake of iron and zinc when intervened with biscuits contain Moringa oleifera leaf flour.

METHOD

It was Quasy experiment carried out at Antang, Mamajang and Batua Public Health Center in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The subject were the pregnant women of Trimester I and III trimesters which are divided into 2 groups with the intervention Group (n=35) obtained M. oleifera leaf flour biscuits with combination iron tablet and the control group (n=35) only accept FE tablets. Intervention group was given biscuits containing 40% moringa leaf flour (2.8g per biscuits) with a dose of 2 pieces a day containing Moringa leaf flour and a combination of iron tablets with a dose of 2 times 250mg, while the control group only consumed iron tablets at a dose of 2 times 250mg. After 60 days, a posttest was carried out to examine hemoglobin, iron and zinc.

RESULT

The results showed that there was a significance increasing of hemoglobin after intervention (1.04g/dl, p=0.001), increasing of iron intake significantly (2.51mg, p=0.001) and zinc intake (0.14mg, p=0.144) also increas but not statistically significant. The increase in these three indicators was higher than the control group.

CONCLUSION

Biscuits containing M. oleifera leaf flour are able to provide improvement in the condition of pregnant mothers who have anemia, especially in hemoglobin levels, iron and zinc intake.