Feeling sluggish? Check your diet

Charlyn Fargo, Contributor

Not getting good nutrition in your diet? If you are a postmenopausal woman, there's a good chance you may be at risk for anaemia, according to a new study published in the April 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

"This study suggests that inadequate nutrient intakes are a significant risk factor for anaemia in this population of older women, and use of multivitamin/mineral supplements is not associated with lower rates of anaemia," reports lead investigator Cynthia A. Thomson, PhD, RD, associate professor of nutritional sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States (US).

Iron-deficiency anaemia

"Overall, mortality is increased in relation to a diagnosis of anaemia, and anaemia, particularly iron deficiency, has been associated with reduced capacity for physical work and physical inactivity and injury related to falls and hospitalisations, making this an im-portant health-care concern in ageing."

The authors also point out that there have been few studies of anaemia and diet of in-dependently living women in the past 20 years. Using data from 72,833 women in the Observational Cohort of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI-OS), researchers found that deficiencies in more than a single nutrient were associated with a 21 per cent greater risk of persistent anaemia, while three deficiencies resulted in a 44 per cent increase in risk for persistent anaemia.

Inadequate intakes of multiple anaemia-associated nutrients were less frequent in non-Hispanic whites (7.4 per cent) than other race/ethnic groups - 15.2 per cent of Native Americans/Alaskans, 14.6 per cent Asian/Pacific Islanders, 15.3 per cent of African-Americans and 16.3 per cent of Hispanic/Latinos reported all three nutrient inadequacies.

Low intakes of energy and protein

Women with anaemia reported lower intakes of energy, protein, folate, vitamin B12, iron, vitamin C and red meat. In fact, inadequate intake of dietary iron, vitamin B12 and folate were each associated with approximately 10 to 20 per cent elevated risk for incident anaemia, among WHI-OS study participants and the odds increased for persistent anaemia to 21 per cent. Age, body mass index and smoking were also associated with anaemia.

According to the authors, the WHI study represents one of the most com-prehensive sources of diet, health and general information ever collected in the US, including data over a nine-year period. Dietary intake data were collected using a Food Frequency Questionnaire, estimating intake of over 85 nutrients.

The authors recommend that post-menopausal women be regularly evaluated for anaemia by looking at nutrients such as iron, vitamin B12 and folate.

Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian at the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.