Background /Aims: The nutritional factors involved in the development of anemia are only partially understood. We conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess their relationships.
Methods: Three-day weighted food records, anemia and serum lipid information were collected for 1306 men and 1537 women (age: 20 - 87y; mean BMI ± SD: 23.5 ± 3.5 kg/m2) in the Jiangsu longitudinal Nutrition Study in 2002. Participants with anemia (n = 722; 67% women) were matched based on their age, sex, BMI and calories profile to their closest control using Euclidian distance on the ranked data.
Results: The median (±SD) of the pairwise difference (PD) for the iron intake was lower in individuals living with anemia (PD -0.4 ± 11.8 mg NS). Their total cholesterol levels were significantly lower (PD: -3.9 ± 52.2 mg/dL). HDL cholesterol and triglycerides levels were lower (PD: -0.8 ± 15.9 mg/dL NS and -0.4 ± 109.1 mg/dL NS). Fat intake was significantly increased (PD: 2.4 ± 33.2 g), although vegetable oil and animal fat intake showed no significant difference (PD: -1.2 ± 27.4 g NS and 0.0 ± 3.1 g NS). γ-tocopherol intake was significantly reduced (PD: -0.6 ± 8.7 mg).
Conclusions: Although patients with anemia ate more fat, the fat-soluble γ-tocopherol was lower, and they had a more favourable lipid profile. Our preliminary data suggest complex inter-relationships between anemia and nutritional profiles, and we are currently conducting multi-variate analyses on the follow-up study to detect clinically relevant subtypes in the population.
Funding source(s): n/a