Correlation between Iron Intake and Hemoglobin Concentration of Vegetarian Adolescent Community in Pekanbaru

Abstract

Vegetarians have relatively low intake of microminerals, such as iron. Iron requirement will increase in adolescent period. Iron is one of the important component of red blood cell formation. The objective of this study is to determine the correlation between iron intake and hemoglobin concentration of vegetarian adolescent community in Pekanbaru. This study was an analytical research with crosssectional approach of all vegetarians adolescent who were members of Indonesian Vegetarian Society (IVS) Pekanbaru which age was 10-19 years old and qualified that conducted in September through October 2010 amount 30 respondents. Semiquantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was used as a parameter for iron intake and used sianmethemoglobin methods to examine hemoglobin concentration by spectrophotometer. The average of iron intake for girl was 12.7 mg/day and for boy was 14.0 mg/day and the average of hemoglobin concentration for girl was 11.3 g/dL and for boy was 11.6 g/dL. Pearson test between iron intake and hemoglobin concentration showed r = 0.372; p = 0.043 and r2 was 0,138 means iron intake influence hemoglobin concentration about 13,8% in this research. There was a significant weak positive degree correlation between iron intake and hemoglobin concentration of vegetarian adolescent community in Pekanbaru.