Iron Status of the Adolescent Females before and after Menarche

This study was performed to determine the iron status of the adolescent Korean girls before and after menarche. The 101 subjects aged 11-13 years who attending in an elementary school in Mokpo were recruited. They were divided into pre-menarche (A) group or post-menarche (B) group based on their menstruation status. The latter subjects were sub-divided into one of the four groups according to the times of their menstruation B-I( $\geq$ 3 times), B-II (4-6 times), B-III (7-9 times) or B-W ( $\geq$ 10 times). In the total subjects, dietary iron intake, 11.3 mg/day, was below the Korean RDA for iron, the percentage of heme iron to total iron intake, 15%, and the bioavailability of dietary iron, 12.3%, seemed to be low. And their body iron storage, 140.8 mg, seemed to be insufficient. However, they tended to meet body's iron requirement in the cell level. Red blood cell number (RBC), hematocrit (Hct), and hemoglobin (Hb) level in the total subjects were 4.5 1012/I, 39.3%, and 13.0 g/㎗, respectively. The subjects in B group had lower (p<0.05) RBC and Hct compared to those in A group and the prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia tended to be high. Serum iron, ferritin, and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and sTfR:ferritin ratio were 86.7 $\mu\textrm{g}$/d, 17.6 $\mu\textrm{g}$/l, 3.58 mg/1, and 230, respectively. Those four indices were not significantly different among the groups. The results of this study imply that, although there a tendency to affect negatively iron status, menstrual blood loss in adolescent females does not deteriorate obviously their iron status during the relatively short period up to 1 you. However, it should be better to improve their iron status after starting menarche by increasing iron intake, especially heme-iron, and enhancing factors for iron absorption.

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