Dietary treatment of iron deficiency in women of childbearing age.

BACKGROUND The Australian Iron Status Advisory Panel advocates dietary intervention as the first treatment option for mild iron deficiency [serum ferritin (SF) = 10-15 microg/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 microg/L or SF = 15-20 microg/L plus serum iron <10 micromol/L and total-iron-binding capacity >68 micromol/L) and 22 iron-replete women (hemoglobin > or =120 g/L and SF >20 microg/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 microg/L at baseline to 24.8 +/- 10.0 microg/L after the intervention and remained stable during follow-up (24.2 +/- 9.8 microg/L), whereas the diet group had smaller increases during the intervention (8.9 +/- 3.1 to 11.0 +/- 5.9 microg/L) but continued to improve during follow-up (to 15.2 +/- 9.5 microg/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.