women. Some uterine bleeding can occur in some women during HRT, especially during the first year of therapy (Archer et al., 1999; MacLennan et al., 1993; Oosterbaan et al., 1995). Therefore, women on HRT who continue to menstruate may have higher iron requirements than postmenopausal women who are not on HRT.

As previously discussed, iron is more bioavailable from meat than from plant-derived foods. Meat and fish also enhance the absorption of nonheme iron. Therefore, nonheme iron absorption is lower for those consuming vegetarian diets than for those eating nonvegetarian diets (Hunt and Roughead, 1999). Serum ferritin concentrations have been observed to be markedly lower in vegetarian men, women, and children than in those consuming a nonvegetarian diet (Alexander et al., 1994; Dwyer et al., 1982; Shaw et al., 1995). For these reasons, individuals who typically consume vegetarian diets may have difficulty consuming adequate intakes of bioavailable iron to meet the EAR. Cook and coworkers (1991) compared iron bioavailability from single meals with that of a diet consumed over a 2-week period. There was a 4.4-fold difference between maximally enhancing and maximally inhibiting single meals, but the difference was only two-fold when measured over the 2-week period. It is therefore estimated that the bioavailability of iron from a vegetarian diet is approximately 10 percent, rather than the 18 percent from a mixed Western diet. Hence the requirement for iron is 1.8 times higher for vegetarians. It is important to emphasize that lower bioavailability diets (approaching 5 percent overall absorption) may be encountered with very strict vegetarianism and in some developing countries where access to a variety of foods is limited.

Intestinal parasites infect approximately 1 billion of the world’s population. Some of the parasites, particularly hookworm, cause significant intestinal blood loss. These infections are prevalent in developing countries where the intake of bioavailable iron is often inadequate. When possible, the primary intervention should be elimination of the parasitic infection. In addition, an adequate intake of bioavailable dietary iron may be necessary to treat iron deficiency. When bioavailable dietary iron is not available, supplemental iron may be needed. Various regimens are provided for such groups at