Ending Anemia in Cambodia with an Iron Fish. Will this work?

YouTube · Post by **General Mackevili** » Thu May 22, 2014 11:03 pm

Cooking with a block of iron so the iron gets in your food. Hmmm.... Honestly, I've never heard of that. Seems this third world problem has found a third world solution.

At first it was just in the shape of a disk, and they were again't it because it went against Cambodian "culture" (which I think is better worded as 'tradition').

Anyways, they change the block of iron to look like a fish, and now all the Cambodians are happy to cook with it!!! YaY!!

Jokes aside, I think it's a cool solution.

In Cambodia, millions of people have anemia because their diets don't provide enough iron--and women and children are at greatest risk. The Lucky Iron Fish project offers a clever solution: cook with a piece of iron shaped like a little fish, which releases iron into the food during the cooking process.

Project lead Gavin Armstrong says in the beginning, they offered program participants an iron disc, but nobody wanted to cook with it.

"It didn't make any sense culturally, and so after research it was discovered that the shape of fish was a shape of a symbol of luck in Cambodia," he said.

http://boingboing.net/2014/05/21/ending ... -with.html

EdinWigan · Post by **EdinWigan** » Fri May 23, 2014 12:42 am

WoW ! what a fantastically simple, yet effective method to combat a huge problem

thePeck · Post by **thePeck** » Fri May 23, 2014 12:43 am

I had no idea anemia was a problem here. With the amount of cooked blood they eat I don't see it being an issue. I honestly don't know if cooking blood alters/destroys the makeup of iron. Since it's a mineral I would think not, also because you "cook" with this fish it isn't a problem.

The only demographic I see with a problem maybe the muslims here, because eating blood is against Islam. Same as the Jews and some christian sects.

OrangeDragon · Post by **OrangeDragon** » Fri May 23, 2014 12:48 am

as to "will it work":
http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/does-coo ... n-our-food

as to anemia here, so many of the dishes eaten here lack meat it's ridiculous. the cost of adding protein to a meal is high, even fish when you're living on very very little money. not enough of it makes its way into most diets. rice, the bulk of pretty much any meal here, at least has protein but lacks any iron. cooking 1 smallish fish in a pot of soup to feed an entire family doesn't provide the necessary iron for your diet.

could also explain the often joked about over-dramatization of what we perceive as minor illnesses. if they're complicated by the weakness/etc cause by insufficient iron, they could feel as bad as they claim and foreigners tend to mock.

thePeck · Post by **thePeck** » Fri May 23, 2014 1:00 am

Ya but the soup they regularly eat has blood chunks in it. Granted I don't know how much iron is in blood but I'd assume high. Or the cost of soup versus rice with very little meat, probably less but I don't see much difference. But again with the difference in $1 meal versus a $1.50 meal when you're living on $100 a month, it may be a high cost difference.

Ya our views of these illnesses as jaded by the fact that to us it's a small thing. Hell, go to the store and pickup a multi-vitamin or a stand alone iron supplement. No big deal.

OrangeDragon · Post by **OrangeDragon** » Fri May 23, 2014 1:08 am

thePeck wrote:Ya but the soup they regularly eat has blood chunks in it. Granted I don't know how much iron is in blood but I'd assume high. Or the cost of soup versus rice with very little meat, probably less but I don't see much difference. But again with the difference in $1 meal versus a $1.50 meal when you're living on $100 a month, it may be a high cost difference.

Ya our views of these illnesses as jaded by the fact that to us it's a small thing. Hell, go to the store and pickup a multi-vitamin or a stand alone iron supplement. No big deal.

i've seen many a soup in the provinces where the whole soup has that 1 chunk of blood cake. a few of the lower end places in steung meanchey as well. and yeah, if you tack an extra 50 cents on each meal, assume 2 meals a day, 30 days a month... that's an extra $30... when you're already living pretty close to the wire.

thePeck · Post by **thePeck** » Fri May 23, 2014 1:45 am

OrangeDragon wrote:
thePeck wrote:Ya but the soup they regularly eat has blood chunks in it. Granted I don't know how much iron is in blood but I'd assume high. Or the cost of soup versus rice with very little meat, probably less but I don't see much difference. But again with the difference in $1 meal versus a $1.50 meal when you're living on $100 a month, it may be a high cost difference.

Ya our views of these illnesses as jaded by the fact that to us it's a small thing. Hell, go to the store and pickup a multi-vitamin or a stand alone iron supplement. No big deal.
i've seen many a soup in the provinces where the whole soup has that 1 chunk of blood cake. a few of the lower end places in steung meanchey as well. and yeah, if you tack an extra 50 cents on each meal, assume 2 meals a day, 30 days a month... that's an extra $30... when you're already living pretty close to the wire.

Ya those little adds to us is no big deal but as you said "living close to the wire" there's no room for those indulgences.

Actaully I should pick up some multi's, I don't eat much meat beyond chicken and some pork. I might be on the low end of iron myself. I don't eat the blood cakes because if I don't have to my gf is happy enough to take it from me. And as far as green leafy vegetables I still don't eat much of them.

OrangeDragon · Post by **OrangeDragon** » Fri May 23, 2014 3:25 am

thePeck wrote:green leafy vegetables

this is why i try to make sure i get 2-3 salads in a week.

Mr Curious · Post by **Mr Curious** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:00 am

Guess y'all ain't heard about cast iron frying pans. Gave one to a Khmer friend, don't guess her family will have an iron deficit prob, she uses the hell out of it.
the ol man better stay in line tho

OrangeDragon · Post by **OrangeDragon** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:27 am

Mr Curious wrote:Guess y'all ain't heard about cast iron frying pans. Gave one to a Khmer friend, don't guess her family will have an iron deficit prob, she uses the hell out of it.
the ol man better stay in line tho

where did you get it? i'd kill to get my hands on a good one.

Ending Anemia in Cambodia with an Iron Fish. Will this work?

Ending Anemia in Cambodia with an Iron Fish. Will this work?

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