The purpose of this study was to determine whether adherance to a modified vegetarian diet predisposed young female athletes to iron deficiency. Two groups of female distance runners volunteered to be subjects for this study. One group consisted of women who regularly consumed red meat, and the other groups women who consumed a modified vegetarian diet. Three day dietary records analyzed to estimate nutrient intake, including available iron. Measures of serum ferritin, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, percent transferrin saturation, hemoglobin and hematocrit were done to asses iron status. The two groups did not differ in the amount of total iron or available iron in their diets. The red meat eating subjects consumed significantly more heme iron from their diets than the modified vegetarians; however there were no differences between the two groups in any of the measures of hematological or iron status. While there were no differences between the two groups in the percent of subjects classified in each stage, 37% of all of the subjects were classified as having a stage 1 deficiency, associated with iron deficient stores, and 11% of the subjects were classified as having a stage 2 deficiency, indicating iron deficient erythropoiesis. None of the subjects were anemic. The results indicate that adherance to a modifed vegetarian diet in this age group did not increase the risk of iron deficiency. / School of Physical Education

The objective of this study was to investigate if there was a difference in the dietary intake of calcium and iron between female college aged dancers and non-dancers. Three day food records of 18 dancers and 21 non-dancers were analyzed for calcium and iron using Nutritionist IV computer software. Though not statistically significant dancers had a higher intake of calcium than non-dancers (864.7 mg/d vs. 796.2 mg/d) The main sources of calcium for both groups was milk followed by cheese. Mean daily intake of iron for dancers and non-dancers was 16.9 mg/d and 16.5 mg/d respectively. Grains were the main source of iron for both groups. A participants survey was used to collect descriptive data such as height, weight, smoking status, hours spent exercising , use of multivitamin supplements and nutrition course attended. Five dancers and four non-dancers took multivitamin plus mineral supplements. Reasons for use of supplements were: perceived notion that supplements provided energy and participants thought their diet was inadequate. The dietary habits of 38 % of the non-dancers who had previously had a nutrition course was not positively influenced by nutrition education. / Department of Home Economics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-157).

Thesis (M.S.E.C.E.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-126).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on July 17, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, [Department of] Physics, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Male weanling Wistar rats were fed a low-iron basal diet for 3 weeks. The iron depleted rats were then divided into 9 groups according to a randomized block design based on body weight. During the repletion period of 2 weeks, one group was fed the low-iron basal diet. The other eight groups received either the basal diet to which was added 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 mg iron per kg diet as ferrous sulfate or test source diets formulated to provide a total of 15 mg iron per kg diet from either freeze-dried ground beef, textured defatted soy flour product or a 2.3:1 (w/w) mixture of beef and soy product. All diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. The relative biological value (RBV) of iron in the test source diet was calculated as the ratio of the amounts of iron from the reference source (ferrous sulfate) and the test source diet required to give the same response in hemoglobin or hematocrit. The RBVs ± 95% confidence limits, calculated on the basis of final hemoglobin levels and hematocrit values, were respectively: freeze-dried ground beef, 56 ± 7 % and 62 ± 7 %; fortified textured defatted soy flour product, 81 ± 10 % and 79 ± 10 %; 2.3:1 (w/w) mixture of freeze-dried ground beef and soy flour product, 65 ± 6 % and 68 ± 6 %. The RBVs obtained for the iron in beef and for that in the soy flour product suggest that the anemic rat might not be a suitable model for normal man when screening such foods for their available iron. In normal man, the absorption of the iron in beef is comparable to that of inorganic reference iron, while that in textured soy flour is about one third. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Adequate nutrition is fundamental to optimal physical and cognitive growth in the second year of life. Toddlers, however, are particularly vulnerable to poor nutrition due to their high nutrient needs in relation to their body size and energy intakes. Nutrient-dense diets are therefore essential during this period. However, no practical quantitative food-based dietary guidelines directed at this age group are available to help caregivers choose nutrient-rich foods for their toddler. Such guidelines are needed not only to ensure adequate intakes of all nutrients during the period of dietary transition from infant to family foods, but also to emphasise intakes of nutrients for which toddlers are at particular risk of deficiency. Biochemical evidence suggests that iron nutrition requires special attention in New Zealand toddlers. The overall aim of this thesis was to design and assess the efficacy of practical food-based strategies for toddlers to ensure optimal nutritional status of 12-24 month old New Zealand children, with a specific focus on iron nutrition. To achieve these overall aims, the research was carried out in three stages. In the first stage, secondary data analysis of food intake data for New Zealand toddlers identified the foods commonly consumed by New Zealand toddlers, the serving sizes and frequency of consumption of these foods, and the nutrients that New Zealand toddlers are at risk of consuming in suboptimal amounts. The food intake data were obtained from 3-day weighed food intakes that had been collected on non-consecutive days in an earlier community-based cross-sectional survey of 188 randomly selected non-breastfeeding 12-24 month old urban South Island New Zealand children. In addition to describing the food consumption patterns of New Zealand toddlers, the secondary data analysis also identified that nearly 40% of New Zealand toddlers were at risk of suboptimal iron intakes. The results of these analyses were used in the second stage of the thesis to develop three food-based strategies. To do this a 4-phase approach based on linear and goal programming was used to design and hypothetically evaluate three sets of food-based strategies for 12-24 month old non-breastfeeding New Zealand children, and to identify the key problem nutrients for each set of strategies. The three sets of strategies were based on: (1) all foods consumed by toddlers including iron-fortified infant and toddler foods, (2) family foods only, or (3) family foods that are not fortified with iron. The mathematical modelling confirmed that iron was the key problem nutrient in the diets of New Zealand toddlers. The analysis showed that only food-based strategies that included a recommendation for the replacement of non-fortified cow�s milk with an iron-fortified toddler milk (500 mL), i.e. strategy set 1, achieved the Australian-New Zealand Recommended Dietary Intakes for all nutrients, including iron. In fact, inclusion of a recommendation for a substantially increased consumption of flesh foods was identified as the only possible alternative to the iron-fortified toddler milk recommendation for improving iron nutrition in New Zealand toddlers. Although the set of strategies including this flesh food recommendation did not provide as much total iron as those including the iron-fortified toddler milk recommendation, the bioavailability of the iron is likely to be greater because flesh foods provide highly bioavailable haem iron (red meat being a particularly rich source) and have an enhancing effect on the absorption of non-haem iron. The two key recommendations for achieving New Zealand toddlers� iron needs were, therefore, a recommendation to consume an iron-fortified toddler milk and a recommendation to consume substantial amounts of red meat. In the third stage, the efficacy of an increased intake of red meat or the use of an iron-fortified milk for improving biochemical iron status in healthy non-anaemic 12-20 month old New Zealand children was investigated in a 20-week partial double-blind randomised placebo-controlled intervention trial. The study also examined the effect of these two interventions on dietary iron intakes and growth, and investigated the association between the amount of meat consumed and biochemical iron parameters. Participants (n=225) were assigned to one of three groups: Meat Group (n=90), Fortified Milk Group (n=45), or Placebo Group (n=90). Children in the Meat Group were encouraged to consume two red meat dishes per day (~ 2.6 mg of iron). In the Fortified Milk Group and Placebo Group, the children�s regular milk was replaced with iron-fortified cow�s milk (1.5 mg of iron per 100 g of prepared milk), or non-fortified cow�s milk (< 0.1 mg of iron per 100 g of prepared milk), respectively. Geometric mean dietary iron intakes (95% CI) increased from 4.7 (4.1, 5.3) to 5.3 (4.7, 6.0) mg per day in the Meat Group (P=0.007), and from 4.3 (3.7, 5.0) to 10.4 (9.0, 12.2) mg per day in the Fortified Milk Group (P<0.001). These increased iron intakes differed significantly from the Placebo Group (both P<0.001), which declined from 5.1 (4.5, 5.7) to 4.6 (4.1, 5.2) mg per day during the intervention (P=0.047). Over 20 weeks, adjusted geometric mean serum ferritin concentration increased by 44% (95% CI: 14%, 82%) in the Fortified Milk Group (P=0.002), tended to decrease in the Placebo Group (14% decrease (95% CI: -27%, 1%; P=0.063)), and did not significantly change in the Meat Group (10% increase (95% CI: -7%, 30%; P=0.241)). However, because iron status declined in the Placebo Group, both groups fared significantly better than the Placebo Group: serum ferritin concentration at 20 weeks was 68% (95% CI: 27%, 124%; P<0.001) greater in the Fortified Milk Group than in the Placebo Group, and 29% (95% CI: 2%, 63%; P=0.033) greater in the Meat Group than in the Placebo Group. There were no intervention effects on haemoglobin or serum transferrin receptor concentration. The cross-sectional analysis showed that a daily intake of 1 g of red meat was associated with 0.65% (95% CI: 0.18%, 1.11%; P=0.007) higher serum ferritin concentration. No adverse effects of the interventions on the toddlers� growth were detected. In conclusion, this thesis shows that food-based strategies can be designed that, if adhered to, should ensure adequate iron status in New Zealand toddlers. Although both the iron-fortified milk recommendation and the increased red meat recommendation are likely to prevent the decline in body iron stores that can occur during the second year of life, only consumption of iron-fortified milk can successfully increase iron stores. Therefore, food-based strategies for New Zealand toddlers will need to include a recommendation that encourages the consumption of foods developed specifically for toddlers that are fortified with iron.

Graduation date: 1991