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Student Iron Deficiency Appears to Fall
By Emily Clifton '08
STAFF WRITER

Giving blood is a generous act, and many students sign up each year to donate at the bi-annual blood drives hosted by the Bum Chums.

But what happens when students decide to give blood, only to find that they are ineligible due to iron deficiency? Despite the fact that Prothro serves meat with every meal and le Bistro boasts plenty of fare that is rich in protein, many students suffer from iron deficiency, evidenced by the large number of students that turned away at each drive.

Iron is a mineral whose function is primarily as a key element of carriers of oxygen in the body called of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is found in the blood. In the muscle, iron is part of the structure of myoglobin, another oxygen carrier.

Iron-rich foods include meats (especially beef liver), eggs, and whole-grain or iron-fortified foods. Iron is also found in raisins. While iron is found in small quantities in many foods, there are better sources of iron to aim for than others.

A good food source of iron contains a substantial amount of iron in relation to its calorie content and contributes at least 10 percent of the U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (U.S. RDA) for iron in a selected serving size. The U.S. RDA for iron is 18 milligrams per day. (The U.S. RDA given is for adults, except pregnant or lactating women, and children over 4 years of age.)

The 1989 RDA has been set at 15 milligrams per day for women 19 to 50 years of age; the RDA above was from 1968. For women ages 19 to 50, the USDA reports intakes of less than 80% of the RDA in ¾ of the women surveyed. This means that is highly likely that the Sweet Briar women should pay attention to their iron intake.

Different labs have a different cut-off for anemia. The Red Cross uses a strict guideline of a Hematocrit of 38 or above for donation.

If your hematocrit is 37 then you are not able to donate but by most standards you are not anemic. Instead you are a low end of normal. Centra Lab’s cut off for anemia is a hematocrit less than 35.

Basically, if the Red Cross denies you, it is possible that you are truly anemic possibly from Iron Deficiency anemia, but on the other hand, you may just be at the low end of normal.

This year, 16 out of 72 blood donors were turned away for iron deficiency. This is actually a huge improvement over last year—25 out of 75 were turned away last year, according to Meagan Chenault, Ex-Mother Superior of the Bum Chums.

Prothro employee Melvin Jones commented on the initiatives taken by the staff to encourage consumption of nutritional food: “We usually do try to provide a well-balanced diet each day—fish, meat, poultry.” When asked about whether the chef designs menus with the consideration of student vitamin and nutritional needs, he said, “that’s a priority.”

This improvement, however, may have been because students have been home all summer, where it’s easier to eat healthily. Despite Prothro’s best attempts to provide nutritional options, students are also confronted with many chances to eat foods that are less nutritious—macaroni and cheese, nachos, French fries, pizza, etc—and the stress of the college lifestyle makes students more willing to make bad choices.

The ability of the body to absorb and utilize iron from different foods varies. The iron in meat, poultry, and fish is absorbed and utilized more readily than iron in other foods.

The consumption of these animal products increases the availability of iron from other foods.

The presence of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in a meal also increases iron absorption. The body increases or decreases iron absorption according to need. The body absorbs iron more efficiently when iron stores are low and during growth spurts or pregnancy.

The most common indication of poor iron status is iron deficiency anemia, a condition in which the size and number of red blood cells are reduced. This condition may result from inadequate intake of iron or from blood loss. In order to determine whether you are anemic, you should see your doctor. But it is never a bad idea to watch your iron intake and try to meet the RDA of 15 mg.