The Effects of Iron Deficiency on the Gut Microbiota in Women of Childbearing Age.

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most prevalent and common nutritional deficiency worldwide and is a global health problem with significant risk, particularly among women of reproductive age. Oral iron supplementation is the most widely used and cost-effective treatment for iron deficiency and IDA. However, there are limitations regarding side effects such as enteritis, treatment compliance, and bioavailability. Intestinal microbiome characteristic research has been recently conducted to overcome these issues, but more is needed. Against this background, a metagenomics study on the 16S gene in the feces of young women vulnerable to IDA was conducted. As a result of analyzing 16 normal subjects and 15 IDA patients, significant differences in bacterial community distribution were identified. In particular, a significant decrease in Faecalibacterium was characteristic in IDA patients compared with normal subjects. Furthermore, in the case of patients who recovered from IDA following iron supplementation treatment, it was confirmed that Faecalibacterium significantly recovered to normal levels. However, no significance in beta diversity was seen compared with before treatment. There were also no differences in the beta diversity results between the recovered and normal subjects. Therefore, intestinal dysbiosis during the disease state was considered to be restored as IDA improved. Although the results were derived from a limited number of subjects and additional research is needed, the results of this study are expected to be the basis for developing treatment and prevention strategies based on host-microbiome crosstalk in IDA.

Objectively measured physical activity during chemotherapy in colon cancer patients.

PURPOSE: Although adjuvant chemotherapy can have an impact on physical activity (PA), PA level has not been studied in patients with stage II-III colon cancer. This study investigated PA levels during and between chemotherapy cycles. METHODS: We objectively measured PA levels for 2 weeks during the 2nd and 11th chemotherapy cycles. In addition, self-reported PA levels were assessed before chemotherapy initiation, during 2nd, 6th, and 12th chemotherapy cycles. This study included 22 men and 33 women with stage II-III colon cancer patients (57 ± 9 years). RESULTS: Before the initiation of chemotherapy, most cancer patients were minimally active. Compared with the 1st week of chemotherapy, moderate- and light-intensity PA levels significantly increased during the 2nd week of chemotherapy. Patients increased moderate- and light-intensity PA from 217.4 to 290.3 min per week and from 585.7 to 657.8 min per week, respectively (p < 0.01). PA levels did not show any difference between the 2nd and 12th cycles when objectively measured, or between baseline and 2nd, 6th, and 12th cycles when self-reported. CONCLUSION: PA levels during chemotherapy cycles are initially low, and then increase towards the end of the cycle; however, PA levels do not change between chemotherapy cycles. Future work with broader and larger samples size is recommended.