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Community and International Nutrition

Intake of Alcoholic Beverages Is a Predictor of Iron Status and Hemoglobin in Adult Tanzanians^1,2

³ National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza Medical Research Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania; ⁴ DBL Institute for Health Research and Development, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark; ⁵ Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aalborg University Hospital, 9100 Aalborg, Denmark; and ⁶ Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1958 Frederiksberg, Denmark

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hfr{at}life.ku.dk.

Iron deficiency is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, but its predictors are not fully understood. We conducted a cross-sectional study among adults around Lake Victoria to describe iron status and asses the role of dietary and infectious predictors. Linear regression analyses were used to assess the role of infections and intake of meat, fish, fruit/vegetables, alcoholic beverages, and soil on hemoglobin and serum ferritin, while controlling for elevated serum ₁-antichymotrypsin (ACT). Among 1498 participants, the mean age was 33.3 (14–87) y with 53.9% females. More than one-half ate fish daily, 6% ate fruit/vegetables daily, and only 11% ate meat weekly. One-third consumed alcoholic beverages and one-fifth of females consumed soil. Hookworm (80.3%), Schistosoma mansoni (64.7%), and HIV (7.3%) infection were common. Anemia was found in 48.2% of females (<120 g/L hemoglobin) and 40.1% of males (<130 g/L hemoglobin), and 22.3% of females and 7.0% of males had depleted iron stores (serum ferritin <12 µg/L). In multivariate analyses, alcoholic beverage consumption and HIV were positive, whereas soil eating and hookworm infection were negative predictors of serum ferritin. Alcoholic beverage consumption was a positive predictor of hemoglobin, and soil eating, HIV, and hookworm infection were negative predictors. Intakes of meat, fish, and fruit or vegetables were not predictors. Elevated serum ACT was a predictor of both hemoglobin and serum ferritin. Anemia and depleted iron stores were common, whereas iron overload was rare. In conclusion, the associations between alcoholic beverage intake and hemoglobin and iron status suggest that alcoholic beverages may contain micronutrients essential to erythropoiesis. The role of alcoholic beverage intake and other determinants of hemoglobin and iron status in low-income populations needs to be better elucidated.