Two women from studies 1 and 3 were excluded due to protocol
violations (they did not attend). No significant differences in
the anthropometric and Fe status values were found between
groups. Of the 43 women, 6 presented Fe deficiency anemia, 3 Fe
deficiency without anemia, 3 Fe depletion and 31 normal Fe status.
Serum ferritin values ranged from 1 to 50 lg/L, indicating high
variation in Fe stores as it was expected (Table 1). At the beginning
of the study, 14 and 29 of the women were classified as normal and
overweight, respectively.