An awareness week bringing attention to iron deficiency – the world's most prevalent nutrient deficiency – is set to take place next week.

Now in its seventh year, 2020's World Iron Awareness Week will focus on babies and toddlers.

It will also share relevant information for vulnerable groups including women, and provide practical information on the importance of healthy iron levels for everyone.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand's head of nutrition, Fiona Windle says reducing the risk of iron deficiency, particularly in young children, could reap huge benefits not only in their physical health but in their brain development and cognitive abilities as well.

In this rapid phase of growth where a baby's birth weight triples in its first year, at 7-12 months, a baby needs even more iron than their dad.

'I am a mum of two myself, so I know the struggles of having fussy eaters particularly in the toddler phase. Making sure you cook something that tempts their taste buds whilst ticking all the nutritional boxes can be a challenge.

'I also know getting as much nutritious goodness into them can make such a difference to their energy and immunity – it really is ‘every bite counts'.

She says one thing people can take away from this year's World Iron Awareness Week is that you can make some easy tweaks to your meals to get the most nutrition out of them.

'It can be as simple as adding vitamin C-rich foods like fruits and veges to a meal to aid iron absorption.”

In the lead up to World Iron Awareness Week, people are encouraged to visit ironweek.co.nz – a website dedicated to everything iron related.