Professor Friis explained: “”During the period when children were provided with food relief, their B12 levels increased, before decreasing considerably once we stopped the programme.
“Despite provisioning them with food relief for three months, their stores remained far from topped up. This, when a typical food relief programme only runs for four weeks.”
Doctor Vibeke Brix added: “A child’s gut can only absorb 1 microgram of B12 per meal. So, if a child is lacking 500 micrograms, it will take much longer than the few weeks that they have access to emergency food relief.
“Furthermore, longer-term relief programmes aren’t realistic, as humanitarian organizations are trying to reduce the duration of treatment regimens with the aim of being able to serve a larger number of children for the same amount of money.”
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