Dr Saskia de Pee, a senior researcher at Helen Keller International Asia Pacific, showed that the soy sauce fortified with sodium feredetate (produced by Akzo Nobel and marketed as Ferrazone) was able to reduce anaemia in mothers who consumed regular amounts of soy sauce,from 35.8 per cent to 20.1 per cent over a 14 month trial period.
Although the mothers consumed on average only 1.5-3.0 mL of soy sauce per day, the reduction of anaemia was significant, despite the low level of added iron intake.
"These results were unexpected in view of the rather low daily consumption of soy sauce, and hence low consumption of added iron," said Dr de Pee.
She presented the results at the recent International Congress of Nutrition in Durban, South Africa, last month.
"There are no other studiesshowing such a significant reduction in anaemia with such a small additional intake of iron. This shows a way to reduce anaemia using normal market channels," she added.
A local subsidiary of Heinz, P.T. Heinz ABC Indonesia, produced the 16 mL sachets of soy sauce, which were distributed via normal marketing channels, in Bandung district, West Java, Indonesia.
According to UNICEF estimates, iron deficiency affects half of the developing world's infants, undermines the health of 500 million women of reproductive age and leads to more than 60,000 childbirth deaths a year.
It also causes a range of other problems in millions ofpeople, including impaired cognitive development in children, fatigue, maternal mortality andlow productivity in the workplace.