The Effect of Snake Fruit (Salacca edulis Reinw.) Seed Extract On Body Weight In Female Rats Model with Iron Deficiency Anemia

Anemia is a global nutritional problem in developing countries. Oral iron supplementation is recommended for anemia treatment in pregnant woman, and adolescent girl. However, this supplementation frequently has some side effects. In a previous study, snake fruit seeds naturally contain high level of iron, which is potentially used for alternative anemia supplementation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of snake fruit seed extract (SSE) on body weight (BW) in female rat model with anemia. The study was a pre-posttests control group design, 14 female rats strain Wistar were selected based on inclusion criteria. After 10 days modelling of anemia, all rats were randomly divided to 2 groups: control and treatment groups. For the remaining days, all rats received low iron feed, but added 1.75 g/kg BW/day SSE in the T group 14 days treatment. Body weight was measured before and after treatment, and all data were analyzed using independent and paired T-tests with p<0.05. Before treatment, the average of BW in the C group is lower than T group (p=0.005). After treatment, the average of BW in T and C groups were statistically differed from BW before treatment (p<0.001). In addition, a greater number of BW was found in the T group, compared with the C group (p<0.001). The administration of 0.175 g/100 g BW/day SSE can increase BW in female rats model with anemia.