THE EFFECT OF IRON FORTIFICATION ON THE FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION OF PLASMA AND ERYTHROCYTE-MEMBRANES IN PRIMARY-SCHOOL CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT IRON-DEFICIENCY

An intervention study was designed to evaluate the fatty acid (FA) sta tus of children aged 6-11 years before and after iron fortification. I ron deficient (ID) and matched controls without ID (n = 30) were selec ted. All children received soup (160 mL) fortified with 20 mg iron and 100 mg vitamin C for 15 weeks on school days. Measurements before and after intervention included dietary intake, haematological and iron s tatus and FA composition of plasma and erythrocyte membranes (EMBs). T he prevalence of low plasma ferritin concentration and transferrin sat uration decreased in the HD children by 40% and 56%, respectively, wit h intervention. Plasma FAs reflected dietary FA intake. In comparison with controls, the ID group presented with increased percentage total saturated FAs (SFAs; p = 0.0002) in their EMB phosphatidylcholine (PC) and reduced percentage total polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs; p = 0.0037) before intervention. Lower total n-3 FAs (p = 0.0070) including eicosa pentaenoic acid (EPA; p = 0.0034), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; p = 0.0 048) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; p = 0.0058) were observed in the I D group. The EMB phosphatidylethanolamine (PEA) of the ID children pre sented with lower percentages of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA; p = 0.0001 ), EPA (p = 0.0051) and DHA (p = 0.0084) compared to controls before i ntervention. Iron intervention was associated with an increase (p < 0, 05) in the percentage of n-3 FAs in the EMB-PC and -PEA of the ID grou p to percentages comparable to that in the control group. It appears t hat iron status can influence FA metabolism of specific n-3 FAs in the EMBs of young children.