- Title
- Is higher consumption of animal flesh foods associated with better iron status among adults in developed countries? A systematic review
- Creator
- Jackson, Jacklyn; Williams, Rebecca; McEvoy, Mark; MacDonald-Wicks, Lesley; Patterson, Amanda
- Relation
- Nutrients Vol. 8, Issue 2
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu8020089
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Iron deficiency (ID) is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency within the developed world. This is of concern as ID has been shown to affect immunity, thermoregulation, work performance and cognition. Animal flesh foods provide the richest and most bioavailable source of dietary (haem) iron, however, it is unclear whether low animal flesh diets contribute to ID. This systematic review aimed to investigate whether a higher consumption of animal flesh foods is associated with better iron status in adults. CINAHL, Cochrane, EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched for published studies that included adults (≥18 years) from developed countries and measured flesh intakes in relation to iron status indices. Eight experimental and 41 observational studies met the inclusion criteria. Generally, studies varied in population and study designs and results were conflicting. Of the seven high quality studies, five showed a positive association between animal flesh intake (85¿300 g/day) and iron status. However, the optimum quantity or frequency of flesh intake required to maintain or achieve a healthy iron status remains unclear. Results show a promising relationship between animal flesh intake and iron status, however, additional longitudinal and experimental studies are required to confirm this relationship and determine optimal intakes to reduce ID development.
- Subject
- systematic review; animal flesh; iron status; adults; developed countries
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1322370
- Identifier
- uon:24574
- Identifier
- ISSN:2072-6643
- Rights
- © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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