ABSTRACT
Background: obesity and iron deficiency are two of the most common nutritional disorders worldwide. Although these two conditions represent opposite ends of over- and under-nutrition, they appear to be linked
Objective: To investigate the association between body mass index and iron status in obese and overweight children
Methods: It was a case control study that included 40 children aged 2-14 years, 20 overweight [BMI 85th -95th percentile] and 20 obese [BMI more than or equal 95th percentile]. Twenty healthy non obese children of comparable age and sex served as a control group. All studied children were subjected to calculation of body mass index and laboratory investigations including complete blood picture and Iron profile [serum iron, serum ferritin, total iron binding capacity, serum transferring, and transferring saturation]
Results Compared to the control group, hemoglobin, MCV, serum iron and transferrin saturation were significantly lower in the obese and overweight group [p<0.05]. There was a negative correlation between BMI and both serum iron and transferring saturation, while there was a positive correlation between BMI and TIBC within the total sample
Conclusions: There was a relation between BMI and iron status in children. Obese and overweight children had higher rates of iron deficiency than normal-weight children