Epidemiologic studies have found a relation between body iron stores and risk of chronic
disease. Iron-absorption studies from single meals have shown that many dietary factors can
influence nonheme-iron bioavailability. However, little is known about the association of
these dietary factors with iron stores in free-living elderly populations. To address this
question, we investigated the consumption of various dietary components and iron stores in
an elderly sample of The Framingham Heart Study participants. Serum ferritin was used as a …