The relationship between glycemic and insulinemic status and iron absorption in premenopausal women.

Abstract

Background Information: Insulin and glucose were suggested to influence hepcidin status and hence iron absorption. However, the relationship between iron absorption and glycemic profile is still far from clear. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between glycemic and insulinemic profiles with iron absorption in healthy premenopausal women. Another aim of this study is to assess which markers will be great predictors for iron absorption in healthy premenopausal women. Methods: A non-randomized experimental trial was conducted. The experimental trial was divided into 3 visits: •In the first visit, anthropometric and body composition using DEXA were determined. •In the second visit, blood samples were collected from overnight fasted subjects before consuming a test meal (bread and honey) mixed with 6 mg of stable labeled iron Fe57. •In the third visit, subjects were requested to show up after exactly 14 days in a fasted state for blood withdrawal. All blood samples used were analyzed for their levels of iron, glycaemia and inflammatory markers. Results: Our results also show that MCV reflecting iron status and CRP reflecting inflammation are significant negative predictors of iron absorption in our sample. Hence we conclude that iron status and inflammation together dictate iron absorption. Discussion: Our results have shown that glycemic and insulinemic profile are not associated with iron absorption in healthy premenopausal women .It seems that in healthy obese premenopausal women with no evident chronic disease, insulin increase is not sufficient enough to trigger a disturbance on iron absorption. The more narrow range of insulin and glucose parameters of healthy premenopausal women than of subjects groups that also include men and postmenopausal women and conditions such as diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome is a possible limitation for detecting an association between iron absorption and glucose metabolism markers.