Prevalance of iron deficiency anemia in overweight or obese women admitted to Malatya wellness center and effect to dietary treatment

Aim: Obesity is a disease that occurs when excess fat accumulates in the body and needs to be treated. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world and it is accepted that approximately half of the anemic individuals are iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Obesity and iron deficiency affect a significant part of the world's population. This study aims to determine frequency of IDA in overweight and obese women and effect to dietary treatment. Material and Method: A total of 161 women of the 18-45 age group who were according to the body mass index (BMI) overweight (BMI: 25.0-29.9 kg/m2, n:65) and obese (BMI: ≥30 kg/m2, n:96) applied to Malatya Wellness Center. Our study is a prospective intervention study and volunteering is based on participation and continuity. In the first application, all women were referred to family physicians for taking biochemical parameters, all women were asked to fill out a questionnaire for their sociodemographic characteristics and habits, and 24 hours of food consumption and physical activity were recorded for three consecutive days, anthropometric measurements and Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) were conducted. During the intervention phase of the study, women were given dietary treatment for loss of body weight, followed up for 3 months. Statistical analyses were conducted with the use of IBM SPSS 22 software. Differences were considered significant at p<0.05. Results: Serum iron, hemoglobin levels and ferritin of obese (respectively median values; 47.0 μg/dL, 12.6 g/dL, 18.1 ng/dL) women were lower than overweight women (47.6 μg/dL, 12.7 g/dL, 18.3 ng/dL) (p<0.05). The prevalence of iron deficiency and IDA in the obese and overweight women were respectively, 59.4%, 30.2%; 58.5%, 27.7%. At the end of the 3 months follow-up diet treatment, it was determined that 13.68% of body weight of those without anemia and 11.96% of those with anemia were lost (p <0.05). Significant differences were determined at anthropometric measurements of women with and without anemia (p <0.05). Energy, protein, total fat, saturated fatty acids, carbohydrate intake decreased statistically significantly (p <0.05) in all women with diet. Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that the percentage of total weight loss of individuals with anemia was lower. It has also been determined that the decrease in body weight has a positive effect on iron parameters. In conclusion, the anemia of obesity and iron deficiency is an important public health problem and should be avoided before it occurs. Obesity can be prevented by lifelong changes in behavior. Keywords: Iron deficiency, Iron deficiency anemia, Overweight women, Obese women