Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of iron supplementation on the iron nutritional status and anemia of high school girls in Korea. One hundred thirty-five female students residing in Ulian metropolitan city in Korea diagnosed as having anemia or iron deficiency participated in this study. One or two tablets of iron medicine(80-160 mg Fe as ferrous sulfate/day) were administered to all participants for 3 months. Subjects were evaluated with a questionaire, measurement of hematological indices before and after iron supplementation. The average height and weight of respondents were 161.62 +/- 4.68 cm and 53.87 +/- 6.10 kg, respectively. Daily intakes of energy were 1597.8 +/- 302.35 kcal(76.0% RDA). Iron intakes were 13.72 +/- 4.17 mg (76.3% of RDA) and calcium intakes were 580.74 +/- 177.21(72.5% of RDA) before iron supp]ementation. At baseline, 63% of all participants had depleted store(serum ferritin 12 ug/ml and/or transferrin saturation(TS)<14%). After iron supplementation, this proportion declined to 19.3%. 55.6% of subjects had 12 ug/m1 of basal ferritin concentration before iron supplementation, and this proportion declined to 16.3% after iron supplementation. The basal hemoglobin(Hb) concentrations were 12.13 +/- 1.01 g/dl and they increased to 12.79 +/- 0.81 g/dl, which showed significant difference artier iron supplementation(p<0.001). The basal ferritin and TS(%) were 13.24 +/- 11.66 ng/ml, 18.42 +/- 10.12% and they significantly increased to 32.95 +/- 21.14 ng/ml, 33.53 +/- 16.64%, respectively(p<0.001). The basal total iron binding protein(TIBC) were 467.81 +/- 97.24 ug/dl and they significantly decreased to 325.05 +/- 48.89 ug/dl(p<0.001) after iron supplementation. The number of tablets administered was positively correlated with serum iron(t = 0.553, p<0.01), serum ferritin(t = 0.557, p<0.01), TS(%)(t = 0.588, p<0.01) and negatively correlated with TIBC(t= -0.409, p<0.01). The anemia symptoms such as 'Shortening of breath when going upstairs(p<0.01)', 'Tired out easily(p<0.01)', 'Feeling blue(p<0.001)', 'Decreased ability to concentrate(p<0.01)', and 'Poor memory(p<0.001)'improved significantly after iron supplementation. In this study, daily iron supplementations were efficacious in improving the iron status and anemic symptoms of female high school students. Regular check-ups and nutrition education for adolescents are necessary because of their vulnerability to iron deficiency. Further studies are needed to determine the minimum effective dose of iron and to examine the adverse effect of long-term iron supplementation.

• Keywords: iron supplementation; iron deficient anemia; hemoglobin; hematocrit; serum ferritin