Alberta Adolescents Have Better Iron Status Than Quebec Women
In fact, the results from the University of Alberta, presented at the Dietitians of Canada conference in Vancouver, contrasted with those from another research study from Quebec. Huguette Turgeon-O’Brien, professor of nutrition at the University of Laval, reported that 56 per cent of Quebec women did not meet the Canadian Recommended Nutrient Intake for iron. Only 20 per cent of the Alberta teenage girls did not have adequate intakes.
Beef intake could be one explanation for the divergent results from the two provinces. Although many foods contain iron, the type found in grain products and vegetables is not as easily available to humans as the heme iron in meat, poultry and fish. Beef is the richest source of heme iron. In fact, one 90 g (3 oz) serving of lean beef provides as much usable iron as four cups (1 L) of spinach.
In the Laval study, low intakes of usable iron intakes were found in the diets of people who consumed the least beef. But in the Alberta study, 97 per cent of the teens reported eating red meat regularly.
“It is probably not surprising that the participants in our study, who come from a beef-producing province, had a good knowledge of the positive contribution beef can make to a healthy diet,” said McCargar. “When we tested their knowledge, 85 per cent were able to identify beef as a good source of iron and 75 per cent knew that lean cuts of beef are readily available in Canada”
A deficiency of iron can have an adverse effect on resistance to infection, attention span, memory, learning ability, productivity, physical performance and endurance. Adolescent and adult women require more iron than men do to replace monthly menstrual blood loss. The Canadian recommendations are 13 mg/day for premenopausal women and 9 mg/day for men. Pregnant women need up to 23 mg per day during the last trimester.
This suggests that the differences in ages of the subjects could be an additional reason for the varying results. Unlike the older Quebec women, the Alberta teenagers would not have experienced the repeated iron losses over years of menses and pregnancies. Women need to ensure that they include good sources of usable iron in their diets daily to meet their iron requirements.
“As nutritionists, we often stress the importance of vegetables, but we must not forget the role meat plays in the diet as a source of essential nutrients,” reminds Turgeon-O’Brien. “Eating beef regularly is a good way to improve both iron and zinc status. Moreover, in our study, we found that meat eaters tended to have more balanced meals overall, consuming more vegetables and grain products as well.”
