A randomized controlled trial of sweet basil leaf powder-enriched cookies for anemia management in adolescent girls.

The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of sweet basil leaf powder as a natural source of iron for the treatment of anemia in adolescent girls. Purposive sampling technique of two-stage sampling; part of the nonprobability sampling approach. Out of 2400 approached adolescent girls, 1645 agreed to participate and their nutritional status was assessed. Of these, 89.95% had clinical signs and symptoms of anemia, and 59.79% were found to be anemic based on Hb levels. From the anemic group, 65.18% were randomly selected to receive either B 0 (Control), B1 (12.699 g FeSO 4 .7H 2 O/100 g), and B3 (16 g SBLP/100 g) cookies for 4 months. At the end of the intervention, the assessment of nutritional status, complete blood count, serum iron, serum ferritin, serum total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation was explored. Hematological parameters such as Hb, Hct, TIBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC, serum iron, and serum ferritin were significant ( p  ≤ .05). The result showed that the serum Fe was highest in group B 3 while a significant decline was noted for group B 0 . Serum ferritin for B 1 was better than B 3 . The entire treatment for transferrin saturation showed a highly significant increasing trend in B 3 and B 1 , regardless of the control. TIBC levels raised in the control group while in all other treatments, it declined. The study demonstrated that SBLP-fortified cookies can be an effective treatment option for anemia, as evidenced by significant improvements in key hematological parameters.