THE CONTRIBUTION OF DIETARY IRON TO IRON STATUS IN A GROUP OF ELDERLYSUBJECTS

Although it is widely accepted that body iron stores of elderly indivi duals are largely adequate, recent findings from our laboratory sugges t that as many as 9% of a ''healthy'' sample showed signs of an inadeq uate body store of this nutrient. In an attempt to see if iron consump tion may be a contributing factor, we compared dietary intakes of tota l iron, heme iron, nonheme iron, ascorbic acid, calcium, dietary fibre , tea and coffee between 19 healthy seniors with inadequate iron store s and 108 healthy seniors with good iron status. The daily consumption of total iron was significantly higher in those with good iron stores . Thus, dietary iron is an important contributor to iron status in old age.