Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the effects of iron supplementation and nutrition education on the iron status and anemia of high school girls. The subjects resided in Ulsan city in Korea and were already diagnosed as having anemia or iron deficiency. Over a period of three months, one iron tablet (80 mg Fe as ferrous sulfate/day) was administered to the iron deficient subjects and two tablets (160 mg Fe as ferrous sulfate/day) were administered to the anemia subjects. The average height and weight of anemia subjects were 161.24 $\pm$ 4.50 cm and 50.87 $\pm$ 5.86 kg, respectively. The average BMI (kg/$m^2$ )was 19.58 $\pm$ 2.03 and the PIBW(percent ideal body weight) were 92.52 $\pm$ 9.84%. Except for vitamin A and vitamin C intakes, the intake levels of all other nutrients were below the RDA. Total calorie intakes of anemia subjects were 73.5% of RDA. The iron intakes of subjects from food were 69. 1% of RDA and the Ca intakes were 59.1% of RDA. The basal hemoglobin(Hb) concentration of anemia subjects averaged 10.77 $\pm$ 1.33 g/dl, and this increased significantly (p < 0.001) to 12.12 $\pm$ 1.08 g/dl, after iron supplementation. The basal ferritin, and transferrin saturations ｛TS (%)｝of anemia subjects were 12.51 $\pm$ 15.19 ng/$m\ell$ and 8.43 $\pm$ 7.56%, respectively, and these significantly increased to 20.59 $\pm$ 22.39 ng/$m\ell$ and 15.56 $\pm$ 12.87%, respectively. The level of total iron binding protein (TIBC) significantly decreased from the initial 486.80 $\pm$ 70.16 $\mu\textrm{g}$/dl to 417.86 $\pm$ 67.73 $\mu\textrm{g}$/dl (p < 0.001) after iron supplementation. For the iron deficiency subjects, the ferritin, iron and TS(%) levels were increased significantly (p < 0.001) and the TIBC levels were significantly (p <0.001) decreased after iron supplementation. Anemia symptoms such as 'Feeling blue (p<0.05)', 'Decreased ability to concentrate (p<0.001)' and 'Poor memory (p<0.05)' improved significantly after iron supplementation in the anemia subjects. The number of tablets administered was positively correlated with changes in serum hemoglobin (t=0.194, p< 0.01), serum ferritin (t=0.181, p<0.01), TS(%) (t=0.141, p<0.05), and hematocrit (t=0.254, p<0.01), and was negatively correlated with changes in TIBC (t=-0.143. p<0.05) and red cell distribution width (RDW, t=-0.140, p<0.05). In conclusion, daily iron supplementation was effective in improving the iron status and reducing symptoms of anemia in high school girls. (Korean J Nutrition 35 (9) : 943~951,2002)
