NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE IRON STATUS IN A GROUP OF INSTITUTIONALIZED ELDERLY PEOPLE IN MADRID (SPAIN)

The iron status of a group of 73 institutionalized elderly people, 20 men and 53 women, aged 68-95 years, was evaluated by means of dietary, haematological and biochemical parameters. Nutritional analysis revea led an average iron intake of 8.6 mg/day, which was below the recommen ded amount in 78% of the cases. However, the intakes of haem iron and of several promoters of iron absorption (as vitamin C and meat) were q uite satisfactory. Haematological and biochemical data revealed that 7 .3% of the elderly had abnormal values for mean corpuscular volume and for transferrin saturation and were considered to have an impaired ir on status; 4.9% had deficient haemoglobin values and an impaired iron status and suffered from anaemia. Based on dietary, haematological and biochemical data, women and those aged greater-than-or-equal-to 80 ye ars presented a worse iron status than males and those aged < 80 years . The present findings show the importance of describing the nutrition al status of the elderly population. Utilized in this way nutritional intervention can be used as an important clinical tool not only to pre vent the occurrence of morbidity and mortality, but also, to enhance t he quality of life of the elderly.