Haematological parameters and anaemia in white and British Indian meat-eaters and vegetarians in UK Biobank

There may be differences in haematological parameters between meat-eaters and vegetarians (1,2) . We aimed to perform cross-sectional analyses of haematological parameters by diet group in a large United Kingdom (UK) cohort. A complete blood count was carried out in all UK Biobank participants at recruitment (2006-2010) (3) . We examined haemoglobin, red and white blood cell counts, and platelet counts and volume, in regular meat-eaters (>3 times/week of red/processed meat con-sumption, n = 212,861), low meat-eaters (n = 213,119), poultry-eaters (n = 4,816), fi sh-eaters (n = 10,044), vegetarians (n = 6,550), and vegans (n = 398) of white ethnicity, and meat-eaters (n = 3,875) and vegetarians (n = 1,362) of British Indian ethnicity. In both white and British Indian populations, compared with regular meat-eaters (or all meat-eaters among Indians), the other diet groups had up to 3.7 % lower age adjusted haemoglobin concentrations (difference not signi fi cant in white vegan women), and were generally more likely to have anaemia (e.g. 8.7 % of regular meat-eaters versus 12.7 % of