HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Patterson, A. J Articles by Seldon, M. R Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Patterson, A. J Articles by Seldon, M. R Agricola Articles by Patterson, A. J Articles by Seldon, M. R

Dietary treatment of iron deficiency in women of childbearing age^1,2,3

From the Research Center for Gender and Health and the Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; the School of Human Movement Studies, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; and the Hunter Hematology Unit, Hunter Area Health Service, New South Wales, Australia.

Background: The Australian Iron Status Advisory Panel advocates dietary intervention as the first treatment option for mild iron deficiency [serum ferritin (SF) = 10–15 µg/L]. However, there appear to be no studies on the efficacy of dietary treatment for iron deficiency.

Objective: We compared the effects of iron supplementation and of a high-iron diet on serum ferritin (SF) and hemoglobin in iron-deficient women of childbearing age.

Design: Forty-four iron-deficient women (SF <15 µg/L or SF = 15–20 µg/L plus serum iron <10 µmol/L and total-iron-binding capacity >68 µmol/L) and 22 iron-replete women (hemoglobin 120 g/L and SF >20 µg/L) matched for age and parity categories were enrolled and completed 7-d weighed food records at baseline. The iron-deficient women were randomly allocated to receive iron supplementation (105 mg/d; supplement group) or a high-iron diet (recommended intake of absorbable iron: 2.25 mg/d; diet group) for 12 wk. Hematologic and dietary assessments were repeated at the end of the intervention and again after a 6-mo follow-up.

Results: Mean SF in the supplement group increased from 9.0 ± 3.9 µg/L at baseline to 24.8 ± 10.0 µg/L after the intervention and remained stable during follow-up (24.2 ± 9.8 µg/L), whereas the diet group had smaller increases during the intervention (8.9 ± 3.1 to 11.0 ± 5.9 µg/L) but continued to improve during follow-up (to 15.2 ± 9.5 µg/L). Mean hemoglobin tended to improve in both intervention groups, but the change was only significant in the supplement group.

Conclusions: In iron-deficient women of childbearing age, a high-iron diet produced smaller increases in SF than did iron supplementation but resulted in continued improvements in iron status during a 6-mo follow-up.

Key Words: Iron deficiency • anemia • dietary iron • women • childbearing age • iron supplements • iron supplementation

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. A. Mannion, K. Gray-Donald, L. Johnson-Down, and K. G. Koski Lactating Women Restricting Milk Are Low on Select Nutrients J. Am. Coll. Nutr., April 1, 2007; 26(2): 149 - 155. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A.-L. M Heath, C M. Skeaff, and R. S Gibson Dietary treatment of iron deficiency? Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, September 1, 2002; 76(3): 687 - 687. [Full Text] [PDF]