Iron Deficiency in the United States

The Council on Foods and Nutrition has been concerned for many years about the magnitude of iron deficiency in the United States. A committee was organized to evaluate all available information on the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of iron deficiency and to call attention to the need for additional studies when information was inadequate to permit conclusions. This review has been undertaken because of an increasing awareness of a deficient iron balance in a large segment of the female population and to point out inadequacies in present knowledge of the true incidence of iron deficiency in the United States. Since iron metabolism has unique features,1,2the composition of body iron compounds and iron requirements will be examined first. From these considerations, the reason for the precarious iron balance becomes evident. Body Iron In the adult man, there is approximately 50 mg of iron per kilogram of body weight, of