Mischler RA, et al. – This study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of oral iron supplementation using non–heme versus heme iron for treatment of iron deficiency in Roux–en–Y gastric bypass surgery (RYGB) patients. In view of findings, oral supplementation using FeSO₄, but not HIP(Heme iron polypeptide), seemed efficacious for treatment of iron deficiency after RYGB.

Methods

• Authors undertook a randomized, single–blind study; women post–RYGB and iron deficient were administered non–heme iron (FeSO₄, 195 mg/day) or heme iron (heme–iron–polypeptide, HIP, 31.5 to 94.5 mg/day) for 8 weeks.
• They assessed measures of iron status, including blood concentrations of ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and hemoglobin.

Results

• At baseline, the mean ± standard deviation for age, BMI, and years since surgery of the sample was 41.5 ± 6.8 years, 34.4 ± 5.9 kg/m², and 6.9 ± 3.1 years, respectively; observations revealed no differences between FeSO₄ (N = 6) or HIP (N = 8) groups.
• Greater than 94% compliance was observed.
• The study was terminated earlier due to statistical and clinical differences between groups.
• In this study, values before and after FeSO₄ supplementation, expressed as least square means (95% CI) were hemoglobin, 10.8 (9.8, 11.9) to 13.0 (11.9, 14.0) g/dL; sTfR, 2111 (1556, 2864) to 1270 (934, 1737) μg/L; ferritin, 4.9 (3.4, 7.2) to 15.5 (10.6, 22.6) μg/L; and sTfR:ferritin ratio, 542 (273, 1086) to 103 (51, 204); all p < 0.0001.
• With HIP supplementation, there appeared no change in any of the iron status biomarkers (all p > 0.05).