Iron and Health
                 Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition
                                                      2010
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         Preface
         n 1­­‚Œ the Committee on Medical Žspects of ‘ood and  utrition Policy ˆCMŽ‰Œ in 
         their reportΠNutritional Aspects of the Development of Cancer, recommended that high 
         consumers of red and processed meat should consider reducing their inta’es because of 
         possible lin’s with a ris’ of colorectal cancer Howe“erŒ since red and processed meat are 
         sources of iron in the …† dietŒ CMŽ recommended that the possible ad“erse nutritional 
         implications of a reduction in red and processed meat inta’es should be assessed ‡he 
         present report has been prepared in response to CMŽ’s recommendation
         ‡he report pro“ides a comprehensi“e re“iew of the role of iron in human nutrition which 
         was drawn from an e”tensi“e body of literature ‡he scope of the report was wide•ranging 
         and included consideration of potential ad“erse effects both of iron deficiency and of 
         iron e”cess ‡he cientific Žd“isory Committee on  utrition ˆŽC ‰ also assessed the 
         ade—uacy of iron inta’es and status of the general and low income populations in the …† 
         ‡here are difficulties in ma’ing these assessments because of uncertainties around the 
         dietary recommendations for iron inta’eŒ which are based on limited dataŒ and because 
         the thresholds of biological mar’ers used to define iron status are not related to functional 
         conse—uences ‡he potential implications of a recommendation to reduce consumption 
         of red and processed meat on inta’es of iron were assessed by modelling data from the 
          ational Diet and  utrition ur“ey ˆ2000‹01‰
         ‘or the general populationŒ ŽC  is recommending a public health approach to achie“ing 
         ade—uate iron status based on a healthy balanced diet that includes a “ariety of foods 
         containing iron ‡his is a change to current dietary ad“ice that iron•rich foods should be 
         consumed at the same time as foods‹drin’s which enhance iron absorption ˆegŒ fruitŒ meat‰ 
         but should not be consumed with those that inhibit iron absorption ˆegŒ teaŒ coffeeŒ mil’‰
         ˜roups identified as being at ris’ of iron deficiency anaemia include toddlersŒ girls and 
         women of reproducti“e ageŒ and some adult groups aged o“er ƒ™ years ‡he report recom•
         mends that health professionals need to be aware of increased ris’ of iron deficiency 
         anaemia in these groups and those with e“idence suggesti“e of iron deficiency anaemia 
         should recei“e appropriate clinical assessment and ad“iceŒ including dietary ad“ice and 
         the use of iron supplements if re—uired
         Žfter detailed consideration of the epidemiological e“idence on the relationship between 
         red and processed meat inta’e and colorectal cancer ris’Œ the report concludes that red 
         and processed meat is probably associated with an increased ris’ of colorectal cancer ince 
         the e“idence does not allow —uantification of the amount of red and processed meat that 
         may be lin’ed with increased colorectal cancer ris’Œ ŽC  is ad“ising high consumers of red 
         and processed meat to consider reducing their inta’es ‡he modelling e”ercise suggests that 
         reducing red and processed meat inta’e to the population a“erage for adult consumers 
         ˆestimated to be about €0 g‹day coo’ed weight in 2000‹01‰ would ha“e little effect on 
         the proportion of the population with iron inta’es below the lower limit of recommended 
         inta’e for iron
                                                           iii
     Completion of this report has been a lengthy process and has ta’en longer than originally 
     en“isaged n partŒ this is because wor’ on the report ˆwhich commenced in 2002‰ was 
     suspended from 200ƒ to 200‚ due to other ŽC  prioritiesŒ but also because of the innate 
     comple”ity of the topic
     ‡he draft report was made a“ailable for comment and  would li’e to than’ all those who 
     responded Žll the comments were carefully considered before the report was finalised 
      would also li’e to than’ the members of the ron šor’ing ˜roup for their commitment 
     and continued wor’ on the report o“er the yearsŒ particularly the ChairŒ Professor Peter 
     ŽggettŒ and the scientific secretariat
     Professor Alan Jackson 
     Chair of the cientific Žd“isory Committee on  utrition
    i“