A simple method based on atomic absorption spectrophotometry and using protein concentration as the reference standard was used for measuring the total tissue iron concentration in needle liver biopsy specimens from 47 patients with varying levels of body iron stores. The values obtained showed a close correlation over a wide range with measurements of total chelatable body iron stores. A compa...

Ferritin in serum was quantitated by radioimmunoassay to determine the usefulness of this assay in reflecting iron stores during normal development and in the diagnosis of iron deficiency and iron overload in infants and children. In the adult, serum ferritin has been reported to correspond to the magnitude of iron stores throughout a wide range. In 573 normal infants and children, we found the...

The known increased need for iron during pregnancy appears to be met only in part by increased iron absorption and amenorrhea. Considerable demands are made on maternal iron stores and, since many women lack sufficient storage iron, pregnancy may be expected to cause iron deficiency. This may lead to anemia in pregnancy and post partum and could also have a bearing on the iron status of the fet...

In 1981, Sullivan suggested that a state of iron depletion (ie, reduced iron stores without anemia) was potentially protective against coronary heart disease (CHD).1 This original “iron hypothesis” was an attempt to explain the known sex difference in cardiovascular (CV) risk and the subsequent loss of the protective effect of female gender with menopause. This initial hypothesis was based in p...

To determine the effects of depleted iron stores on endurance performance and blood lactate concentration, eight active women with normal (> 26 ng/ml) and eight with low (< 12 ng/ml) plasma ferritin concentrations were studied while performing a VO2max and an endurance test (80% VO2max) on a cycle ergometer. The low ferritin group had significantly lower serum iron concentration and transferrin...

BACKGROUND Dietary treatment is often recommended as the first line of treatment for women with mild iron deficiency. Although it is well established that ascorbic acid enhances iron absorption, it is less clear whether the consumption of ascorbic acid rich foods (such as kiwifruit) with meals fortified with iron improves iron status. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the consumpt...

BACKGROUND Asthma and iron deficiency are common conditions. Whether iron status affects the risk of asthma is unclear. OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between iron status and asthma, lung function, and pulmonary inflammation. METHODS Relationships between measures of iron status (serum ferritin, serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and sTfR/log10ferritin (sTfR-F Index)) and a...

Halvorsen, K., and Halvorsen, S. (1973). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 48, 842. The 'early anaemia'; its relation to postnatal growth rate, milk feeding, and iron availability: experimental study in rabbits. In infants, the mechanism of the postnatal fall in haemoglobin to levels below those in adults, the 'early anaemia', is still unclear. In rabbits (as well as in other species) the 'earl...

BACKGROUND Effects of prenatal iron supplementation on maternal postpartum iron status and early infant iron homeostasis remain largely unknown. OBJECTIVE We examined iron absorption and growth in exclusively breastfed infants in relation to fetal iron exposure and iron status during early infancy. DESIGN Longitudinal, paired iron-absorption (⁵⁸Fe) studies were conducted in 59 exclusively b...

Red cell free erythrocyte porphyrin and serum ferritin determinations were performed on capillary blood specimens from 63 healthy infants weighing 2500 g or less at birth, during the first week of life, and, from 44 of them, again at 8-10 weeks. Free erythrocyte porphyrin values were high both at 3-7 days (mean 156 microgram/100 ml RBC) and at 8-10 weeks (mean 128 microgram/100 ml RBC). The res...