Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the iron nutritional status of college women residing in the Kyungin area. The anthropometric parameters, nutrient intake, and biochemical status of iron were measured for 102 college women. The mean height and weight were 160.3 cm and 52.4 kg, respectively. The proportion of subjects whose BMI was less than 20 was 41.3%. The proportion of subjects assessed as overweight(25 or =25%) assessed by the fat percent(FP) was 53.9%. The mean daily intake of iron was 13.90mg(77.1% of RDA), composed of 0.97mg of heme iron and 12.93mg of nonheme iron. the iron intake computed with the chemical analysis of food was 12.44mg(69.0% of RDA). When the sources of iron were grouped as rice(including bread), noodle, soup, side dish, and snack, noodle provided, 3.95mg of iron regarded as the highest amount. Subjects were taking 6.72mg(51.4% of RDA) of iron per day from main dishes(rice, bread and noddle). The fifty percent of the subjects showed iron depletion(serum ferritin<20ng/ml) and 33.4% showed suppressed erythropoiesis with iron deficiency(serum ferritin<10ng/ml). The anemic subjects assessed with transferrin saturation(<155) represented 33.3% of the test population, whereas 11.8% of the subjects possessed less than 12g/dl of hemoglobin. Subjects not satisfed with their body shape were having significantly lower amount of energy intake(p<0.05) than the subjects satisfied with their body shape. College women having mothers who graduated from university had a significantly decreased amount of energy, carbohydrates, fat and vitamin C(p<0.05). The mean RBC and serum iron of the subjects who were on a diet more than one mouth were lower than those of the subjects who were not on a diet(p<0.05).

• Keywords: college women; anthropometic data; nutrient intake; biochemical iron status