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diets. Because soybean products are often substituted In brief, the subjects included 55 vegetarians (23
for animal products (Huang and Ang 1992), the men and 32 women) from Yuan-Guan Buddhist
primary protein sources of vegetarians are rice and College, Chung-Li, Taoyuan, Taiwan, and 59 non-
soybean products (Pan et al. 1993). Several investiga vegetarians (20 men and 39 women) from the Depart
tions have demonstrated that the percentage of iron ments of Nursing and Medicine at the National De
absorption from soybean and soy products is low in fense Medical School, Taipei, Taiwan. All subjects
humans (Cook et al. 1981, Lynch et al. 1984) and that met the following requirements: age <30 y, no history
inclusion of soybean products in a diet is inhibitory to of hypertension, coronary heart disease or diabetes,
iron absorption (Hallberg and Rossander 1982, Lynch nonsmokers and nondrinkers. The vegetarians were
et al. 1985). However, the long-term effect of a expected to have consumed vegetarian diets for >2 y.
All the women studied were nulliparous. Informed
vegetarian diet rich in soybean products on iron
consent forms were signed by all participants. The
status has not been directly evaluated in humans. study protocol was approved by the Institute of Bio-
Compared with the Seventh-Day Adventist diets
medical Sciences as ethical when the research pro
(American Dietetic Association 1993), soybean posal was reviewed. The characteristics of the sub
products were more important in the Buddhist jects, including age, height, weight and use of
vegetarian diets in this study, because soybean nutrient supplement, are listed in Table 1.
products were included in the Buddhist diets in Dietary data. Subjects were served breakfast, lunch
TABLE 1
Subject characteristics1
Male Female
20)20.6
(n => 23)22.6
(n = 39)20.3
(n = 32)24.8
(n -
Age, y 1.0171.7
± ±4.4a ±1.1 ±4.0b
Height, cm ±4.1 168.1 ±4.9 161.1 ±4.1 158.5 ±6.1
Weight, kg 62.7 ±3.7 56.4 ±6.5 53.7 ±5.9 50.4 ±8.0
Body mass index, kg/m2 21.3 ±1.2 20.0
1.3a5.5
± 20.7 ±2.6 20.1 ±2.8
Duration
ySupplementation,
of vegetarian diets, 052100Vegetarian 4.662000Nonvegetarian
± 022000Vegetarian 6.242212
6.7 ±
no. of users
taminsVitamin
Multivi
CVitamin
BVitamin
ECalciumNonvegetarian
Values are means ±so. Superscripts indicate a significant difference between dietary groups within sex according to Student's £
test: aP <
0.05, bP < 0.001.
214 SHAW ET AL.
MO). Whole blood used for hemoglobin measurement than their nonvegetarian peers (30 vs. 20%), but none
was collected using a paper disc method (Feraudi and of the subjects used any iron-containing supplements.
Mejia 1987). The plasma was immediately separated Dietary intakes. The number of exchanges served
by centrifugation at 4°Cand 3000 x g for 15 min, and to the vegetarians was 15 and 3.5 for rice and soybean
aliquots were placed into plastic vials. Plasma products, respectively, whereas that served to the
samples were placed on dry ice for transport and nonvegetarians was 14 and 1, respectively. Food dis
stored in a freezer at -70°C until analysis. tribution of iron was as follows: for vegetarians, staple
The hemoglobin concentration was measured ac 45.1%, vegetables 32.9%, soybean products 17.5%,
cording to the cyanomethemoglobin method (Oser fruits 1.9%, dairy 0.2%, other 2.4%; for non-
1965). Plasma transferrin was measured using a tur- vegetarians, staple 36.4%, animal products (meat, fish
bidimetric immunoassay kit (Boehringer Mannheim and egg) 33.5%, vegetables 15.8%, soybean products
GmbH, Mannheim, Germany). The total iron-binding 8.6%, fruits 4.9%, dairy 0.3%, other 0.5%.
capacity was calculated from the concentration of The average iron density of the diets ranged from
transferrin. Plasma ferritin was determined by a two- 1.9 to 2.2 mg/MJ, and there was no difference be
site immunoradiometric assay (Allegro Ferritin, tween the vegetarian and nonvegetarian diets (Table
Nichols Institute, Geneva, Switzerland). Plasma iron 2). Intakes of energy, iron, vitamin C and crude fiber
was measured using a diagnostic iron kit (Test Com were not significantly different between the male
TABLE 2
Daily nutrient intakes of energy, protein, iron, vitamin C and fiber1
MaleDietary
20)1.9
(n - 23)2.2
|n - 39)2.0
(n - 32)2.0
(n -
Fe density, mg/MJ ± 1.2 ± 0.8 ± 0.3 ± 0.7
Energy intake, MJ/d 8.4 ± 1.3a 8.4 ± 1.3a 5.9 ± 1.2b 7.8 ± 1.6"
Protein, g/d 80 ±13a 72 ±16b 62 ±12C 69 ±171"0
Fe, mg/d 16.1 ± 2.9ab 18.4 ± 7.3a 11.7 ± 2.6C 15.6 ± 5.4b
<100% RDA,2 n 0 1 37 19
Crude fiber, g/d 5.6 ± 2.2ab 5.0 ± 1.7ab 6.1 ± 2.7a 4.7 ± 1.0b
Vitamin C, mg/dNonvegetarian 155 ±85bVegetarian 132 ±52bFemaleNonvegetarian 196 ±98aVegetarian 137 ±41b
'Values are means ±so. Within a row, values with different superscripts differ significantly by Duncan's multiple range test (P < 0.05).
2The RDA for iron is 10 mg/d for male and 15 mg/d for female (NRC 1989).
TABLE 3
Hematological indices of iron status in vegetarians and nonvegetarians1
MaleNonvegetariansIndexHemoglobin,
mmol/LAnemic ±035
nTransferrin,
subjects,
umoi/LTIBC,3 ±69
\imol/L>71 ±623
nPlasma
nmol/L
\imol/LTransferrin
iron, ±36
%<15%, saturation, ±047b23)0.5a4«oab5a8a(9-182)1FemaleNonvegetarians(n7.953569151727327e-
nPlasma
ferritin,4 |jg/L[n
ng/L,5 n0Vegetarians(n
'Values are means + SD. Within a row, values with different superscripts differ significantly by Duncan's multiple range test (P < 0.05).
2Cutoff hemoglobin values for anemia are 8.1 mmol/L for males and 7.4 mmol/L for females (FAO/WHO 1968).
3TIBC = total iron-binding capacity.
4Values are medians with ranges in parentheses. Median plasma ferritin values for all groups were significantly different by Duncan's
multiple range test (P < 0.05), after log transformation of data.
5Number of subjects who had a ferritin concentration lower than the indicated value. The value of 12 ^g/L indicates depletion of iron
storage (Cook and Finch 1979).
216 SHAW ET AL.
nonvegetarian women, but the transferrin level was transferrin saturation and plasma iron in non-
comparable in both groups. The median value of vegetarian females was not found in the vegetarian
plasma ferritin was 12 t*.g/L,which was only half that females. When the four groups were pooled, the corre
of the nonvegetarians and was at the borderline of lation between hemoglobin concentration and iron
iron depletion. Frequency distribution patterns were intake was significant (r = 0.26, P = 0.005), whereas
similar for both female groups (Fig. 1C and ID), but that between ferritin and iron intake was only mar
low ferritin was more prevalent in the vegetarians. ginally significant (r = 0.17, P = 0.064). Such correla
The prevalences of anemia and iron depletion were 30 tions did not exist in individual groups.
and 50%, respectively, in the female vegetarians,
which were more than twice the values for the female
nonvegetarians (12.5 and 22.5%, respectively). Unlike DISCUSSION
the findings for males, the correlation between the
duration of vegetarian practice and ferritin levels was Iron status is generally less adequate in menstru
not significant (Fig. 2). ating women than in their male peers (NRC 1989).
Results of the correlation analysis of iron indices The underlying reasons are physiological, because
are listed in Table 4. The four groups exhibited very women have increased iron loss due to menstruation
different patterns, and the pooled results were also and lower iron intake due to lower energy con
sumption (Finch and Cook 1984). In this study, the
* 10
e n ni L 800
•Male r=-0.38 p=0.077
w Female r=-0.12 p=0.53
50 ID: r«m«l« < 1M
10: Famal«
i" ^H omnÃ-vora!
I I ragatarlani
ì
^-s
30 tÃ- 180
li
M» *•
B
*« BO
i 19
9
B
* O ti -V A
3 40
Fcrrltln (uf/L)
Tr«n«ferrln (nmol/L)
a IB le •0 •4
FIGURE 1 Frequency distribution of plasma ferritin (A) Duration (7)
and transferrin concentrations (B) in male nonvegetarians
(20 subjects) and vegetarians (23 subjects), and frequency
distribution of plasma ferritin (C) and transferrin (D) con FIGURE 2 Correlation between plasma ferritin concen
centrations in female nonvegetarians (39 subjects) and tration and years of vegetarian practice in 32 women and 23
vegetarians (32 subjects). The vegetarians had consumed a men consuming a vegetarian diet rich in soybean products
vegetarian diet rich in soybean products for at least 2 y. for at least 2 y.
VEGETARIAN DIET AND IRON STATUS 217
TABLE 4
Pearson's correlation coefficients between hematological indices of iron status^
Hematological
indices2Hb
FerHb
vs.
TIBCHb
vs.
TSHbvs.
PFeFer
vs.
TIBCFer
vs.
TSFer
vs.
PFeTIBC
vs.
vs. PFeNonvegetarianNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSMaleVegetarianNSNSNSNS-0.50NSNSNSFemalePooledNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNonvegetarianNSNS0
'The level of significance is P < 0.05. NS = not significant.
2Hb = hemoglobin, Fer = plasma ferritin, TIBC - total iron binding capacity, TS transferrin saturation and PFe - plasma iron.
limitations in bioavailability, and absorption of the mean plasma iron and transferrin saturation were
nonheme iron probably remained low in iron-depleted maintained in normal range. But the capacity of adap
subjects. The estimated 10% absorption in the deri tation was not sufficient to compensate for the large
vation of the RDA for iron (NCR 1989) is not ap iron loss due to menstruation,- in consequence the
plicable in pure vegetarians, and this must be clearly mobile iron pool in plasma was smaller in women
understood as vegetarianism becomes increasingly than in men. Lack of a correlation between plasma
popular. For improvement of iron status in ferritin and years of vegetarian diets can be explained
vegetarians, supplementation with vitamin C may be by the narrow range of ferritin level and a high fre
helpful, but the effect has not been validated (Cook et quency (48%) of subjects with ferritin of <12 ng/L.
al. 1984, Hunt et al. 1990). Iron supplementation is Longer duration of vegetarianism still contributed to
expected to be more effective. impaired iron status, because the frequency of iron
The hematological outcome in vegetarian men depletion was higher in subjects consuming
deserves some attention. The plasma iron and trans- vegetarian diets for >6 y than in those consuming
ferrin saturation were within the normal range but such diets for <6 y (55.5 vs. 39%).
significantly elevated (144 and 133%, respectively) In conclusion, a vegetarian diet rich in soybean
above the level in their nonvegetarian peers. This is products and completely restricted in animal foods is
in contrast with the consensus that both serum iron limited in bioavailable iron and is not adequate to
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Nielsen, F. H. (1990) Ascorbic acid: effect on ongoing iron Epidemiol. 21: 929-934.
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Clin. Nutr. 51: 649-655. influence of iron stores on iron absorption in the normal subject.
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ed.), pp. 183-198. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. menopausal Indian and Caucasian vegetarians compared with
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D. (1985) Soy protein products and heme iron absorption in Schricker, B. R., Miller, D. D. & Van Campen, D. (1982) In vitro
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Lynch, S. R., Beard, I. L., Dassenko, S. A. & Cook, J. D. (1984) Iron J. Nutr. 112: 1696-1705.
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