Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Access
    • Multimedia
    • Podcast
    • Collections
    • Past Issues
    • Articles by Subject
    • Articles by Type
    • Supplements
    • Plain Language Summaries
    • Calls for Papers
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Job Seekers
    • Media
  • About
    • Annals of Family Medicine
    • Editorial Staff & Boards
    • Sponsoring Organizations
    • Copyrights & Permissions
    • Announcements
  • Engage
    • Engage
    • e-Letters (Comments)
    • Subscribe
    • Podcast
    • E-mail Alerts
    • Journal Club
    • RSS
    • Annals Forum (Archive)
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
  • Careers

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
Annals of Family Medicine
  • My alerts
Annals of Family Medicine

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Access
    • Multimedia
    • Podcast
    • Collections
    • Past Issues
    • Articles by Subject
    • Articles by Type
    • Supplements
    • Plain Language Summaries
    • Calls for Papers
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Job Seekers
    • Media
  • About
    • Annals of Family Medicine
    • Editorial Staff & Boards
    • Sponsoring Organizations
    • Copyrights & Permissions
    • Announcements
  • Engage
    • Engage
    • e-Letters (Comments)
    • Subscribe
    • Podcast
    • E-mail Alerts
    • Journal Club
    • RSS
    • Annals Forum (Archive)
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Follow annalsfm on Twitter
  • Visit annalsfm on Facebook
Research ArticleOriginal Research

Transferrin Saturation, Dietary Iron Intake, and Risk of Cancer

Arch G. Mainous, James M. Gill and Charles J. Everett
The Annals of Family Medicine March 2005, 3 (2) 131-137; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.283
Arch G. Mainous III
PhD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
James M. Gill
MD, MPH
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Charles J. Everett
PhD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Published eLetters

If you would like to comment on this article, click on Submit a Response to This article, below. We welcome your input.

Submit a Response to This Article
Compose eLetter

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Statement of Competing Interests
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

Vertical Tabs

Jump to comment:

  • Science?
    Susan Peloquin
    Published on: 06 February 2006
  • Dietary iron - was it fully assessed? Why was it taken?
    Andreas Cohrssen
    Published on: 05 April 2005
  • Published on: (6 February 2006)
    Page navigation anchor for Science?
    Science?
    • Susan Peloquin, Chicago, USA

    I must start by saying that I am not a scientist, but have an interest in research of hemochromatosis. I cannot believe that you have done this study based on one 24 hour dietary assessment. The amount of dietary iron in my diet varies greatly from one day to the next depending on whether I ate fortified cereal or yogurt for breakfast. I am assuming that the people who participated in this study could likely be the sa...

    Show More

    I must start by saying that I am not a scientist, but have an interest in research of hemochromatosis. I cannot believe that you have done this study based on one 24 hour dietary assessment. The amount of dietary iron in my diet varies greatly from one day to the next depending on whether I ate fortified cereal or yogurt for breakfast. I am assuming that the people who participated in this study could likely be the same. I would think that you would need several dietary status surveys done over the course of this study to get a true idea of the amount of dietary iron consumed in this study, especially when the number of people with high transferrin saturation and high dietary iron was so low (1%).

    Competing interests:   None declared

    Show Less
    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (5 April 2005)
    Page navigation anchor for Dietary iron - was it fully assessed? Why was it taken?
    Dietary iron - was it fully assessed? Why was it taken?
    • Andreas Cohrssen, New York, NY, USA

    Mainous et al. found an interesting potential association between serum transferrin, dietary iron intake and a diagnosis of cancer.

    In the method section I could not identify if confounders of dietary iron intake such as supplemental iron (multivitamins, iron tablets) was accounted for as well as intake of Vitamin C which would enhance resorption of iron. Lack of inclusion of such data would diminish the stren...

    Show More

    Mainous et al. found an interesting potential association between serum transferrin, dietary iron intake and a diagnosis of cancer.

    In the method section I could not identify if confounders of dietary iron intake such as supplemental iron (multivitamins, iron tablets) was accounted for as well as intake of Vitamin C which would enhance resorption of iron. Lack of inclusion of such data would diminish the strength of the presented data.

    In addition, I would like to know if current or past anemia was assessed. Many patients deal with anemia by increasing their dietary iron intake or take iron supplements. Anemia in older patients could be a warning sign of a slowly growing cancer, such as colon [1] or bladder cancer. Increased iron intake could then be a marker for the patient's dietary adjustment to a developing cancer.

    [1] Acher PL. Al-Mishlab T. Rahman M. Bates T. Iron-deficiency anaemia and delay in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Colorectal Disease. 5(2):145-8, 2003 Mar.

    Competing interests:   None declared

    Show Less
    Competing Interests: None declared.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

The Annals of Family Medicine: 3 (2)
The Annals of Family Medicine: 3 (2)
Vol. 3, Issue 2
1 Mar 2005
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
  • In Brief
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Annals of Family Medicine.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Transferrin Saturation, Dietary Iron Intake, and Risk of Cancer
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Annals of Family Medicine
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Annals of Family Medicine web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
2 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Transferrin Saturation, Dietary Iron Intake, and Risk of Cancer
Arch G. Mainous, James M. Gill, Charles J. Everett
The Annals of Family Medicine Mar 2005, 3 (2) 131-137; DOI: 10.1370/afm.283

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Get Permissions
Share
Transferrin Saturation, Dietary Iron Intake, and Risk of Cancer
Arch G. Mainous, James M. Gill, Charles J. Everett
The Annals of Family Medicine Mar 2005, 3 (2) 131-137; DOI: 10.1370/afm.283
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Higher concentrations of serum iron and transferrin saturation but not serum ferritin are associated with cancer outcomes
  • Oesophageal and gastric intestinal-type adenocarcinomas show the same male predominance due to a 17 year delayed development in females
  • Genetic Variability in Iron-Related Oxidative Stress Pathways (Nrf2, NQ01, NOS3, and HO-1), Iron Intake, and Risk of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer
  • Modulation of iron transport proteins in human colorectal carcinogenesis
  • 'Another Compelling Idealized Model That Is Drastically Altered by the Ugly Facts on the Ground'
  • In This Issue
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Performance-Based Reimbursement, Illegitimate Tasks, Moral Distress, and Quality Care in Primary Care: A Mediation Model of Longitudinal Data
  • Adverse Outcomes Associated With Inhaled Corticosteroid Use in Individuals With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  • Family-Based Interventions to Promote Weight Management in Adults: Results From a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in India
Show more Original Research

Similar Articles

Subjects

  • Domains of illness & health:
    • Disease pathophysiology / etiology
    • Prevention
    • Health promotion
  • Methods:
    • Quantitative methods
  • Other research types:
    • POEMs

Content

  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Early Access
  • Plain-Language Summaries
  • Multimedia
  • Podcast
  • Articles by Type
  • Articles by Subject
  • Supplements
  • Calls for Papers

Info for

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Job Seekers
  • Media

Engage

  • E-mail Alerts
  • e-Letters (Comments)
  • RSS
  • Journal Club
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Subscribe
  • Family Medicine Careers

About

  • About Us
  • Editorial Board & Staff
  • Sponsoring Organizations
  • Copyrights & Permissions
  • Contact Us
  • eLetter/Comments Policy

© 2025 Annals of Family Medicine