Lack of awareness of the link between anaemia and diet may partly explain why anaemia remains more common among women of South Asian and Chinese ethnic origin in the United Kingdom than in women of European ethnic origin, suggests a study in this week's BMJ.
Researchers at the University of Newcastle assessed the prevalence of anaemia in South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) and Chinese ethnic groups, using data from the Newcastle heart project. The prevalence of anaemia was similar among men of all ethnic groups. However, anaemia was three times more prevalent in South Asian women than in European women and twice as prevalent in Chinese women than in European women.
The team also found that anaemia tended to be more common in those who rarely or never ate meat. Interestingly, 87% of British Indians described themselves as vegetarians in a recent survey, add the authors.
Awareness of the link between anaemia and diet may be low, say the authors. In a national lifestyle survey, less than 1% of respondents mentioned anaemia as a problem related to diet.
