Association Between Tea and Coffee Consumption and Symptoms of Iron Deficiency Among University Students

Abstract

Excessive consumption of tea and coffee has been linked with dietary iron deficiency in many clinical trials. People who consume tea or coffee with meal are at higher risk of developing dietary iron deficiency. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of iron deficiency in relation with tea or coffee among female university students. Methods: 150 female students at University of Lahore selected randomly. All participants were willing to participate in this survey. Questionnaires (on the base of 25 iron deficiency related question) were used for the collection of data to assess the relation between consumption of tea and iron deficiency. Results: 88 participants reported experiencing headache when not taking tea or coffee for long time. 41 desire to consume it all the time. 49 participants experience fatigue when not consumed tea or coffee. 31 participants consume tea or coffee with meal. 27 participants experience symptoms of anemia. 68 participants consume tea or coffee for mind relaxation. 54 participants take tea or coffee for better sleep. 83 participants consume for weight management. About 91 participants take dietary supplement for iron less than 1-2 times a day. Conclusions: This study shows that all the participants consume tea or coffee on daily basis while majority of them take with meal. The participants revealed to have symptoms of iron deficiency.  Consumption of tea or coffee with meal is one of the reasons of dietary iron deficiency as chelates present in tea and coffee hinders the absorption of iron from food.