Micronutrient status of Palestinian school children following salt and flour fortification: a cross-sectional study

Table 2 Micronutrient status of the study sample by gender and grade level, (N = 1484), 2009

	% with Deficiency
	First Grade		Sixth Grade		Ninth Grade		Total
Mean age (SD) in years	6.7 (0.5)		11.8 (0.6)		14.8 (0.6)
Mean age (SD) in years	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
MCV^a	31.3	16.9	17.1	16.2	14.9	13.5	18.8
Folate
- (< 3.1 μg/L)	0	0	0	0.4	0	0.4	0.1
- (< 7.0 μg/L)	0.4	2.4	1.2	1.6	3.8	4.9	2.4
- (> 20 μg/L)	29.3	33.3	22.4	32.7	18.2	15.5	25.2
Zinc²	34.7	35.7	32.2	33.6	20.0	31.0	31.3
B12
- Marginal³	26.8	37.3	41.6	37.1	46.6	39.2	40.0
- Deficient⁴	15.9	13.5	21.2	27.8	36.0	19.2	22.0
Thyroid hormones
- Tri-iodothyroxine⁵	0	0	0	0.8	0.4	0	0.2
- Thyroxine hormone⁶	3.7	2.8	6.1	10.9	14.4	12.2	8.2
- Thyroid- stimulation hormone⁷	6.1	4.0	2.9	5.2	1.3	2.5	3.6

^aMCV<75 fL, ²Zinc < 65 μg/dL, ³B12< 300 pg/mL ,⁴B12<221 pg/ml, ⁵FT3 < 2.3 pg/mL, ⁶FT4 < 0.89 g/dL. ⁷TSH> 5.5 uIU/mL

ISSN: 2055-0928