role of tea drinking in infants anemia

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the effect of tea drinking on the occurrence of microcytic anemia in infants, 98 healthy infants who underwent routine blood counts at the age of 6-12 months were studied. An overall high frequency of anemia [Hb < 11 gm/dl-83.7%], microcytosis [MCV < 70 mu3-14.3%] and microcytic anemia [14.3%] was found in the whole group. The percentage of tea drinking infants with microcytic anemia [19.4%] was significantly higher than that of the non-tea drinkers [5.6%]. The daily amount of tea drinking was 40-500 ml [median = 150 ml]. The tea drinkers had significantly lower mean level of hemoglobin [9.5 or - 0.8 gm/dl] than that of the non-tea drinkers [10.6 or - 1.3 gm/dl], and significantly lower mean level of mean corpuscular volume [72.6 or - 4.3 mum3] than that of the non-tea drinkers [81.6 or - 9.9 mum3]. Based on these findings, giving tea to infants is not recommended, however, giving foods rich in vitamin C should be encouraged