Skip to main content

Table 5 Biomarkers of iron status and haematological parameters

From: Nutritional status of flexitarians compared to vegans and omnivores - a cross-sectional pilot study

  

FX

n = 32

P

FX-V

V

n = 33

P

V-OMN

OMN

n = 29

P

FX-OMN

P

overall

\({\varvec{n}}(\boldsymbol{\%})/\widetilde{{\varvec{x}}}({\varvec{I}}{\varvec{Q}}{\varvec{R}})\)

\({\varvec{n}}(\boldsymbol{\%})/\widetilde{{\varvec{x}}}({\varvec{I}}{\varvec{Q}}{\varvec{R}})\)

\({\varvec{n}}(\boldsymbol{\%})/\widetilde{{\varvec{x}}}({\varvec{I}}{\varvec{Q}}{\varvec{R}})\)

Gender, n (%)

f

18 (56)

 

18 (55)

 

13 (45)

  

m

14 (44)

 

15 (45)

 

16 (55)

  

Parameter [unit]

 Iron serum [µmol/L]

f

15.5 (10.0–23.0)

n.s

17.0 (12.9–21.0)

n.s

19.0 (15.0–20.0)

n.s

0.578a

m

19.5 (14.0–22.0)

n.s

22.0 (16.0–24.0)

n.s

19.5 (18.0–21.5)

n.s

0.567b

  Pre-latent iron deficiency [< 20-14 µmol/L], n (%)

f

5 (28)

n.s

5 (28)

n.s

4 (31)

n.s

0.692c

m

3 (21)

n.s

5 (33)

n.s

7 (44)

n.s

0.848c

  Deficient [< 14 µmol/L], n (%)

f

7 (39)

n.s

6 (33)

n.s

3 (23)

n.s

0.627c

m

2 (14)

n.s

1 (7)

n.s

0 (0)

n.s

0.083c

 Ferritin [µg/l]

f

51.5 (22.0–60.0)

n.s

32.0 (21.0–42.0)

n.s

53.0 (39.0–71.0)

n.s

0.077b

m

92.5 (47.0–156)

1.000

75.0 (48.0–114)

0.001

172 (135–220)

0.018

0.001b

  Depleted iron stores [< 15 µg/l], n (%)

f

1 (6)

n.s

2 (11)

n.s

1 (8)

n.s

0.238c

m

0 (0)

-

0 (0)

-

0 (0)

-

-

 Transferrin saturation [%]

f

11.5 (7.29–16.6)

n.s

13.5 (10.3–21.4)

n.s

14.6 (10.3–17.5)

n.s

0.645a

m

17.2 (13.4–19.8)

n.s

19.4 (14.2–22.5)

n.s

16.3 (14.6–20.2)

n.s

0.485b

  Insufficient iron supply [< 16%], n (%)

f

13 (72)

n.s

11 (61)

n.s

7 (54)

n.s

0.335c

m

6 (43)

n.s

5 (33)

n.s

8 (50)

n.s

0.292c

 Hb [g/dl]

f

13.5 (12.8 -13.7)

n.s

13.2 (12.5–13.8)

n.s

14.1 (13.1–14.4)

n.s

0.164a

m

14.7 (14.0–15.3)

n.s

14.7 (14.4–15.4)

n.s

14.8 (14.6–15.3)

n.s

0.532b

  Anaemia

   [< 12 g/dl], n (%)

f

1 (6)

-

1 (6)

-

0 (0)

-

−

   [< 13 g/dl], n (%)

m

1 (7)

n.s

1 (7)

n.s

0 (0)

n.s

0.747c

 Hct [%]

f

39.8 (38.3–40.5)

n.s

39.4 (37.5–41.2)

n.s

40.1 (39.4–42.2)

n.s

0.197b

m

43.1 (40.8–44.4)

n.s

42.8 (42.2–44.9)

n.s

44.0 (42.6–45.3)

n.s

0.245a

  Lowered

   [< 36%], n (%)

f

1 (6)

-

0 (0)

-

0 (0)

-

-

   [< 39%], n (%)

m

2 (14)

n.s

1 (7)

n.s

0 (0)

n.s

0.223c

 MCV [fl]

f

88.7 (83.9–90.0)

n.s

89.0 (87.0–92.1)

n.s

88.7 (86.0–90.9)

n.s

0.289a

m

85.8 (83.4–87.1)

n.s

87.6 (86.7–90.5)

n.s

87.4 (85.8–90.8)

n.s

0.110b

  Iron deficiency anaemia [< 80 fl], n (%)

f

1 (6)

-

0 (0)

-

0 (0)

-

-

m

1 (7)

n.s

0 (0)

n.s

1 (8)

n.s

0.157c

  1. P ≤ 0.05 shows statistical significance
  2. P-values in bold represent statistical significance
  3. IQR Interquartile range, FX Flexitarians, V Vegans, OMN Omnivores, f Female, m Male, Hb Haemoglobin, Hct Haematocrit, MCV Mean corpuscular volume
  4. aOne-way ANOVA, bKruskal-Wallis test with post hoc test and Bonferroni correction, cChi-Square test
Back to article page

BMC Nutrition

ISSN: 2055-0928

Contact us