Short term Daily or Weekly administration of Micronutrient Sprinkles™ has high compliance and does not cause iron overload in Chinese school children: A Cluster-Randomized Trial. Public Health Nutrition. 9(3), 336–344, 2005.

Waseem Sharieff, MD, Shi-an Yin MD, Michelle Wu, BSc, Qingjun Yang, MSC, Claudia Schauer, AScT, George Tomlinson, PhD and Stanley Zlotkin.

Objectives: To examine consumption rates and serum ferritin (SF) concentrations (as a marker for safety) among school children (3-6 years) provided with daily and weekly micronutrients.

Design and methods: Micronutrients were provided for one school term (13 weeks) to a kindergarten in Northern China as single-dose 'Sprinkles' sachets containing: 30 mg of iron as encapsulated ferrous fumarate, 5 mg zinc gluconate, 50 mg vitamin C, 300 µg vitamin A, 7·5 µg vitamin D3 and 150 µg folic acid. 16 class rooms were randomly assigned to: (a) daily supplements for 5 days a week (daily group); (b) weekly supplements (weekly group); or (c) no-supplements (control group). Consumption of sachets was monitored for each child and SF concentrations were measured at the end of study. Random effects general linear models and graphs were used to compare the groups.

Results: A total of 415 children from 16 class rooms entered the study. At the end of the study, mean consumption rates per child were 86% (daily group; SD = 12%) and 87% (weekly group; SD = 16%). Median SF concentrations were 71 µg/L (range= 27-292; daily group), 55 µg/L (range = 11-299; weekly group), and 54 µg/L (range = 7-327; control group); the overall difference was not significant (p=0·06). However, the daily group was significantly different from the control (p=0·02); daily and weekly groups had higher SF at lower percentiles and similar SF at higher percentiles compared to the control group.

Conclusion: The high consumption rates and appropriate SF concentrations in the supplemented groups suggest that a short term school program with Sprinkles is an efficient and safe way to provide micronutrients (including iron).