Iron intake and iron status of Swedish adolescents with diets of varying climate impactShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: European Journal of Nutrition, ISSN 1436-6207, E-ISSN 1436-6215, Vol. 64, no 2, article id 93Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Purpose: The risk of inadequate micronutrient intake is a concern of low-climate impact diets. This study analyzes the prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) among adolescents with varying dietary climate impact, with special reference to different types and dietary sources of iron. Methods: Data on dietary intake (n = 3099) and plasma ferritin (n = 1030) were from Riksmaten Adolescents 2016–2017 survey of Swedish girls and boys aged 11–18 years. Dietary climate impact was estimated with life cycle assessment data. Linear and logistic regression models assessed associations between dietary climate impact, intakes of iron and food groups, and ID. Results: Higher total iron and heme, but not non-heme, iron intake, was linearly associated with higher dietary climate impact. Compared to girls, boys had higher climate impact and low prevalence of ID. Girls in the highest climate impact quartile had 56% lower odds of ID (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.24–0.81) compared to the lowest quartile, whereas no association was found in boys. Lower intake of red meat and heme iron was associated with ID in girls, while higher intake of dairy was associated with ID in boys. Menstruating girls and adolescents born outside of Sweden were identified risk groups for ID. Conclusions: Girls with a more climate-friendly diet and lower intake of red meat/heme iron may be at higher risk of ID compared to girls with higher dietary climate impact. These results highlight the importance of considering risk groups of ID, such as menstruating girls, in the transition to more plant-based diets with lower climate impact.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH , 2025. Vol. 64, no 2, article id 93
Keywords [en]
Adolescent; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency; Child; Climate; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Female; Humans; Iron; Iron Deficiencies; Iron, Dietary; Male; Nutritional Status; Prevalence; Sweden; ferritin; heme; iron; iron; adolescent; adult; Article; child; climate; controlled study; diet; dietary intake; female; ferritin blood level; high risk population; human; iron deficiency; iron intake; life cycle assessment; major clinical study; male; prevalence; red meat; sex difference; Sweden; Swedish citizen; blood; climate; cross-sectional study; epidemiology; iron deficiency; iron deficiency anemia; iron intake; nutritional status; procedures
National Category
Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-78394DOI: 10.1007/s00394-024-03572-yScopus ID: 2-s2.0-85218850124OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-78394DiVA, id: diva2:1999085
Note
The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, Formas (dnr 2019−00590) who are greatly acknowledged.
2025-09-182025-09-182025-09-23Bibliographically approved