Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
The Authors have studied the blood iron level in 94 twins (23 MZ and 24 DZ pairs) aged from 6 to 14 years.
Through the determination of the blood iron level a mean value of 45,59 mgs per 100 cc. of blood has been established. This value corresponds to that of single-born children of the same age; thus, the anemia ferri priva observed by Woodruff in twins during the first year of age may not apply to ensuing ages.
The comparison of the blood iron level at the ages taken into consideration has shown a slights progressive lowering of the blood iron, which the Authors consider physiological. The comparison of the blood iron level between MZ and DZ twin-pairs has not revealed a significantly different behavior. The twin test appears thus to demonstrate that the blood iron level is not genotypically determined, but is environment-conditioned, generally through thermic and gaseous exchanges between the organism and the environment in which it lives.