My daughter, 3.5, has thalassemia. What food is good for her?

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Based on your query, my opinion is as follows:

Iron intake should be reduced. A vegetarian diet will be better, as iron content is low.

The diet that can be followed includes:

1. Importantly, avoid vitamin C or citrus food up to four hours after food, as it helps in improving iron absorption.

2. Reduce the non-vegetarian diet; try to maintain the intake of iron from the overall diet to less than 18 mg per day.

3. Cereals like wheat bran, maize, oats, rice, and soya are helpful. Not sure if she takes them, but tea and coffee or even milk during meals will reduce iron absorption.

4. Dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt, which reduce iron absorption, particularly with meals. Make sure all are non-iron fortified.

5. For the diet, I would recommend cereals, particularly rice, oats, or maize, along with tea (2 cups). You can vary the diet based on taste.

6. If difficult, multivitamin supplementation without iron will be very helpful with a cereal-based diet including soy protein.

7. Hemoglobin at all times above 10 g% and formation of a donor pool is necessary. Regular chelation therapy to avoid iron overload is necessary.

Managing a child with thalassemia is an ongoing job. Try to maintain a good body mass index, and hemoglobin should always be above 10 g%. Most importantly, try to form a donor pool for regular blood donation from a group of friends or non-related relatives with the same blood group to reduce the risk of antibody formation and also infections. If not sure, contact a transfusion medicine consultant; he will be able to help you more. Ferritin is too high, and iron chelation is necessary.

I hope this helps.