Iron-Deficiency Anemia

To the Editor: One of the most frequent obstacles to oral iron repletion in daily practice is patients' lack of adherence to what is prescribed. In this sense, the review article by Camaschella (May 7 issue) 1 would have been better if it had commented on individualized rather than “recommended” oral daily doses of iron. A daily dose of 100 to 200 mg of elemental iron administered in divided doses for adults was mentioned in the article, but this is usually too much in that it far surpasses the maximum ability of the gut to absorb iron 2 and it induces dose-dependent, . . .