Hematologic indicators and anthropometric indexes
We also assessed changes in hematologic indicators and in weight and height. The amount of heme iron was approximately the same in the 4 diets. Although the vegetable group received the largest amount of non-heme iron, subjects in the vegetable group had the smallest increase in hemoglobin concentration.This may have been due in part to the high content of phytate in dark-green, leafy vegetables, which inhibits iron absorption. These findings indicate that the bioavailability of carotenoids as well as that of iron from leafy vegetables is relatively poor. The relatively large amount of vitamin C in the fruit group (32) and the improvement in vitamin A status in the retinol-rich group (6) may have played a role in improving the hemoglobin concentration in these groups. Changes in the other hematologic indexes appeared to be so small that this study did not have the statistical power to detect differences in increments among the groups. The larger increment in height in the fruit group may have been due to the increase in serum carotene concentrations.