Premium
Relationship between Iron Deficiency and Physical Activity in Female Mexican Garment Factory Workers
Author(s) -
Bielecki Emily M,
Crouter Scott E,
Rivera Juan A,
RamirezSilva Claudia I,
Moreno Lilian,
Haas Jere D
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a679-c
Subject(s) - anemia , medicine , ferritin , iron deficiency , iron status , serum iron , transferrin , soluble transferrin receptor , iron deficiency anemia , physical activity , physiology , physical therapy
This study examined whether iron deficiency has a negative impact on physical activity (PA) in female Mexican factory workers. Non‐pregnant women (18 to 51 y) working in 4 garment factories in the state of Morelos, Mexico were identified as iron deficient anemic (IDA; N=14), iron deficient without anemia (IDNA; N=14) and normal (N=15). Anemia was defined as Hb<120 g/L and ID was defined by serum ferritin (SF) <16 μg/L. Soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) combined with SF was used to calculate total body iron (mg/kg) by the method of Cook et al. (2003). An ActiGraph accelerometer was used to measure PA during four 24‐hr periods during the workweek and the 2‐regression model of Crouter et al. (2005) was used to determine the MET level. Dividing the women based on negative and positive body iron stores showed the greatest differences in moderate‐to‐vigorous PA (MVPA, > 3 METs). Compared to women with positive body iron stores (N=15) those with negative body iron (N=28) had 31 fewer min/day (18%) of MVPA, with 16 fewer min/day (23%) observed during the 9‐hr factory shift and 15 fewer min/day (14%) during non‐working hrs. Additionally, when using only Hb and SF to determine iron status, the IDA women were less active than non‐IDA women and IDNA women were less active than non‐IDNA women, however the majority of the difference in MVPA was observed during the non‐working hours. We conclude that ID contributes to reduced MVPA, which has important implications for productivity, earnings, quality of leisure and home‐based activities and obesity risk in this Mexican population.