Background:Our blood bank is a regional blood transfusion centre, which accepts blood only from voluntary donors.Aim:The aim is to study iron status of regular voluntary donors who donated their blood at least twice in a year.Materials and Methods:Prior to blood donation, blood samples of 220 male and 30 female voluntary donors were collected. Control included 100 each male and female healthy individuals in the 18- to 60-year age group, who never donated blood and did not have any chronic infection. In the study and control groups, about 10% subjects consumed non-vegetarian diet. After investigation, 85 males and 56 females having haemoglobin (Hb) levels above 12.5 g/dl were selected as controls. Donors were divided into ≤10, 11-20, 21-50 and >50 blood donation categories. Majority of the donors in >50 donation category donated blood four times in a year, whereas the remaining donors donated two to three times per year. Haematological parameters were measured on fully automatic haematology analyzer, serum iron and total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) by biochemical methods, ferritin using ELISA kits and transferrin using immunoturbidometry kits. Iron/TIBC ratio × 100 gave percentage of transferrin saturation value.Statistical Analysis:Statistical evaluation was done by mean, standard deviation, pair t-test, χ2 and anova (F-test).Results:Preliminary analysis revealed that there was no significant difference in the iron profile of vegetarian and non-vegetarian subjects or controls and the donors donating <20 times. Significant increase or decrease was observed in mean values of various haematological and iron parameters in donors who donated blood for >20 times (P < 0.001), compared to controls. Anaemia, iron deficiency and depletion of iron stores were more prevalent in female donors (P < 0.05) compared to males and especially in those male donors who donated their blood for more than 20 times.Conclusion:Regular voluntary blood donors should receive iron supplementation to prevent iron deficiency and depletion in iron stores.

Aim of the Study To determine iron status of healthy, unrelated Brahmin, Jain and Muslim participants having different dietary habits.Methodology Control participants other than above three communities, consumed vegetarian or non-vegetarian diet. Brahmin and Jain were strictly vegetarian but Jain did not consume roots or tubers. Muslims consumed nonvegetarian food. Standard techniques were used to measure hematological parameters, serum iron, total iron bindings capacity (TIBC), serum ferritin, transferrin and transferrin saturation. For statistical evaluation mean, standard deviation, pair t test, χ2 and ANOVA (F test) were employed.Results Study includes 565 male and 198 female children and adults. Among them 205 were children and remaining adults. All four categories i.e. control, Brahmin, Jain and Muslims showed higher incidence of anemia and iron defi ciency in females compared to males. Mean values of hematological parameters did not vary signifi cantly in four groups. Serum iron, TIBC, transferrin and ferritin levels indicated iron defi ciency anemia more frequently in Jains and less frequently in Muslims (p<0.05). Iron status of Brahmin was comparable with controls (p<0.01). Majority of the participants had serum ferritin concentration >15 ng/mL. Except one male Jain child none of the participants had serum ferritin concentration <12 ng/mL. Jain subjects more frequently had serum iron concentration <60 μg/dL. Conclusion Jain participants had higher incidence of iron defi ciency anemia. Vegetarian diet consumed by Gujarati Hindu Brahmin community provided them with a suffi cient iron to maintain their iron profi le like Muslims consuming non-vegetarian diet.