Efecto de una intervención educativa en la hemoglobina capilar en una comunidad indígena de la Huasteca Potosina. Estudio piloto

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess an educational intervention emphasizing the use of foods available in an indigenous community in the Huasteca Potosina on capillary hemoglobin. Material and methods: A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest study was carried out December 2014 to December 2015 in children aged 0 to 5 years in the community of Tocoy, San Antonio, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. A 6 months intervention consisted in nutritional education workshops which included informational talks, cooking workshops and feedback of the main topics was carried out. An evaluation was performed in which nutritional status (anthropometric measurements and capillary hemoglobin concentration) and macro and micronutrient intake (24-hour recall) were assessed before and 4 months after the intervention. Results: We found that our intervention had significant effects on hemoglobin values increased from 11.3±1.3 to 12.0±1.4 mg/dl (p=0.025), and the anemia prevalence decrease from 37% to 25,9%. Conclusions: An educational intervention emphasizing the use of foods available in the community could contribute to improve capillary hemoglobin concentration in children from an indigenous community in the Huasteca Potosina.