[Iron absorption of the habitual diet in a population of low socioeconomic level]. / Absorción de hierro de la dieta habitual de una población de nivel socioeconómico bajo.

Iron absorption using the extrinsic double-tag method was determined in the habitual diet consumed by a group of 32 volunteers of both sexes, pertaining to the low socioeconomic strata. The diet was made up of bread, spaghetti, vegetables and meat, totalling 2,022 kcal, 65.0 g protein, 17.57 mg iron, and 28.75 mg ascorbic acid. According to our findings, men were found to be neither anemic nor iron-deficient. Among the women, however, 4.8% had anemia and 57.1% suffered from iron deficiency. The non-heme iron absorption was very low: 1.35% at breakfast, 3.29% at lunch, and 3.82% at dinner. Among those subjects found to be normal, the absorption was half the above figures, whereas among those with iron deficiency it was threefold, the differences being highly significant. The absorption of heme-iron for lunch and dinner was 17.53%. The iron deficient group had an absorption value four times greater than the normal group, the differences also being highly significant. The daily availability of non-heme, heme and total iron was 0.44, 1.13 and 1.57 mg, respectively. In the subjects who formed the normal group, total iron available was 1.14 mg, barely covering a man's daily requirements, but not those of a woman. In the iron-deficient group, it was 4.31 mg, that is, four times greater than in the normal group; while this value improves the balance, it does not prevent deficiency in women, with great blood losses. Bearing these results in mind, it is suggested that measures tending to improve dietary iron content and bio-availability, be enforced.

Iron absorption from typical Latin American diets.

The availability and daily absorption of iron was determined by the extrinsic label method in typical lower middle to lower class diets consumed in regions of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Differences in iron absorption from meals up to 7-fold, could be attributed to the varying contents of absorption enhancers, eg, in meat, and of inhibitors in tea, vegetables, and wheat or maize bread. The total iron available in the diets from four countries did not meet the physiological requirements for normal subjects but deficient subjects fulfilled their requirements absorbing from 1.0 to 2.1 mg/day. In five diets heme iron (6 to 24% of the total) provided 34 to 73% of the iron absorbed. These data suggest that such absorption and utilization studies may be used to correlate the prevalence of iron deficiency in a population with certain diets and to guide fortification programs.

Incidence and pathogenesis of megaloblastic erythropoiesis in multiple myeloma.

Intermediate megaloblastic changes occurred in six (19%) of 32 patients with multiple myeloma and trivial megaloblastic changes in a further ten (31%). Folate deficiency was the predominant cause of these changes and in at least two patients was sufficiently severe to contribute to anaemia. Folate deficiency appeared to be due to excess folate utilization by the tumour and was related to the amount of paraprotein produced daily. Five of the 32 patients had subnormal serum B(12) levels. Reduction in the serum B(12) level was related to the reduction in the normal circulating immunoglobulins and occurred despite normal B(12) absorption. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed.