Prevalence of Anemia and Effect of Fresh Curry leaves in Improving Hemoglobin level Among Adolescent Girls

Abstract Background: Anemia is one of the major nutritional problems all over the world mainly in developing countries. Adolescents group are at major risk for anemia due to various causes irrespective of government efforts to decrease the incidence rate of anemia still the incidence rate has been increasing among adolescent girls in India. Hence, a study was conducted to find out the prevalence of anemia and determine the effect of fresh curry leaves on improving hemoglobin (Hb) levels among adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: A total of 366 hostel inmates were included in the study. In that, the overall prevalence of anemia was 104 (28.4%; classification was done according to the World Health Organization). A true experimental with pre-test, post-test, and control group design was used to conduct the study at a girl’s hostel. Probability simple random sampling technique (lottery method), was adopted to select 100 adolescent girls among 104 who were identified as anemic. Four students had below 7 g/dL who were referred to the hospital for medical management. Furthermore, the deworming tablet albendazole 400 mg was given to the inmates. Participants were divided into 50 experimental and 50 control groups randomly. Fresh curry leaves were given to the experimental group for 90 days every morning on an empty stomach after drinking water. The Hb level was assessed using a hemometer. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The results revealed that the major findings of the study showed that the unpaired “ t ” (cal) value of 4.76 was greater than the “ t ” (tab) value of 2.01. Curry leaves were effective in increasing Hb levels among adolescent girls at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: This study concluded that there was not much difference in pre- and post-intervention value in the experimental group, but compared with the control group, in the experimental group there was an increased Hb level. Hence, curry leaves were effective in increasing Hb levels.