Menarche and nutritional status in pubescent British girls

Status indices for vitamins, iron and other minerals were compared in eighty-nine 12- and 13-year-old British girls according to their menarcheal status. The girls were selected at random to participate in the 1997 National Diet and Nutrition Survey of young people aged 4 to 18 years, and were either premenarcheal or postmenarcheal (i.e. had not or had experienced menarche respectively). After adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking status and corresponding nutrient intakes, mean values for iron status indices (e.g. haemoglobin, serum ferritin and plasma iron concentrations, mean cell volume, transferrin saturation and total iron-binding capacity), status indices of other minerals (e.g. zinc, copper, selenium and magnesium) and nine vitamins in forty-eight premenarcheal girls did not differ significantly from those of forty-one postmenarcheal counterparts (each P>0.05). Mean blood lead concentration was significantly lower in postmenarcheal compared with premenarcheal girls. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.