Iron Nutritional Status of Infants and Young Children in the Seoul Area

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the iron nutritional status by investigating dietary intake and analyzing the hematological iron status indices including serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) in 8 to 28 month old infants md young children taking supplementary foods. The nutrient intake of 60 healthy infants and young children from 8 to 24 months of age was investigated by means of a 24-hour recall method, and the subjects were divided into 2 groups (8- 12 months and 13-28 months) according to age. Venous blood samples from these groups were collected and measured for the following : hemoglobin(Hb), hematocrit(Hct) , mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), serum ferritin, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and sTfR. Anemia is defined as hemoglobin < 11g /dl , serum ferritin level < 10ng1m1 for iron deficiency , serum transferring receptor(sTfR) > 4.5mg / 1 for iron deficient erythropoiesis. Total daily calorie intake was 934.6 ${\pm}$ 284.5kcal (98.32% of RDA) on average. Average daily iron intake in infants aged 8 to 12 months was 8.92 ${\pm}$ 3.32mg. The mean daily iron intake in infants aged 13 to 28 months was 7.15 ${\pm}$ 3.35mg (90% of Recommended Dietary Allowance, RDA). Mean values for Hb, Hct sew ferritin and sTfR were 12.10 ${\pm}$ 0.77g141,36.02 ${\pm}$ 2.31%,20.91 ${\pm}$ 11.58ng/m1 and 3.78 ${\pm}$ 1.47mg /1, respectively. In the young children from 13 to 28 months of age, the prevalence of anemia was 5.6%. The prevalence of iron deficiency was 9.5% in those from 8 to 12 months of age, and 27.8% in those from 13 to 28 months of age. The prevalence of iron deficient erythropoiesis was 16.7% in infants aged 8 to 12 months and 44.4% in those aged 13 to 28 months. The prevalence of both serum ferritin level < 10ng/m1 sTfR > 4.5mg/1 was 22% in the young children aged 13 to 28 months. The measureand ment of sTfR may be a promising new tool in diagnosis of iron deficiency in early childhood when the iron deficiency is prevalent. It seems appropriate to emphasize nutritional education and evaluation to promote the iron nutritional status of infants and young children.