The Relationship Between Nutrition Literacy, Iron-Rich Food Consumption Behavior, and Anemia Among Adolescent Girls
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69855/mgj.v3i3.872Keywords:
Adolescent Girls, Anemia, Nutrition Literacy, Iron-Rich Foods, Dietary Behavior, HemoglobinAbstract
Adolescent girls are vulnerable to anemia because rapid growth, menstrual blood loss, and inadequate dietary iron may coincide with limited capacity to obtain, understand, and apply nutrition information. Purpose: This structured narrative review examined the relationship between nutrition literacy, iron-rich food consumption behavior, and anemia among adolescent girls, with particular attention to evidence from Indonesia and comparable low- and middle-income settings. Methods: Searches were updated through 14 September 2026 in PubMed/MEDLINE, WHO publication repositories, and publisher-indexed records using concepts covering adolescent girls, anemia/hemoglobin, nutrition or health literacy, dietary quality/diversity, iron-rich foods, iron-folic acid supplementation, and nutrition education. Thirty references meeting the stated relevance criteria were narratively synthesized. Results: Higher nutrition literacy was generally associated with healthier food habits and better diet quality, but knowledge alone was not consistently associated with anemia. Indonesian evidence indicated that more frequent consumption of animal-source iron-rich foods was associated with lower anemia risk, whereas poor dietary quality, inadequate iron intake, and iron-inhibiting dietary practices were associated with anemia. Intervention evidence suggested that education was most useful when paired with practical food-based strategies, school meals, behavior-change support, digital reminders, or supplementation. Conclusion: The evidence supports an indirect pathway in which nutrition literacy may contribute to dietary and self-care behaviors that are relevant to anemia prevention, while food access, menstruation, infection, nutritional status, and supplementation may modify these associations.
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