Evaluation of iron stores as limiting high altitude polycythemia

¹ Laboratory of Thoracic Physiology, Department of Surgery; and Department of Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

The total amount of iron available from normal body stores and usual dietary intake might be so small as to limit the rate and magnitude of the polycythemic response to high altitude. To evaluate this problem the influence of iron supplementation on blood hemoglobin concentrations was observed in ten members of a Himalayan expedition during the course of their ascent of a 25,660-ft peak. Half the group received iron supplements in large doses both orally and parenterally; the other five obtained only the iron present in the normal high altitude diet. Hemoglobin concentrations in both groups increased by 33% over 2 months. No significant difference in hemoglobin concentrations between the two groups was noted at any time during the course of the study. It is concluded that normal iron stores plus dietary iron were adequate to meet the needs of increased hemoglobin synthesis at high altitude in the five individuals who received no iron supplementation.