To examine the relationship between dietary iron exposure through the
consumption of traditional beer and the presence of iron overload in b
lack Africans not related by birth, we studied 28 husband and wife pai
rs from a rural Zimbabwean community, Lifetime traditional beer consum
ption was estimated by questioning subjects and iron status was assess
ed by repeated measurements of serum ferritin and transferrin saturati
on in subjects who were fasting and had received vitamin C supplementa
tion. Each of the 56 study subjects had an estimated lifetime traditio
nal beer consumption >1,000 L, The mean +/- standard deviation (SD) co
ncentration of iron in the supernatants of nine samples of traditional
beer from the community was 46 +/- 10 mg/L. Four of 28 men (14.3%) an
d no women had the combination of an elevated serum ferritin and a tra
nsferrin saturation >70%, suggestive of substantial iron overload. Sig
nificant correlations were not found between the iron status of the hu
sbands and their wives or between dietary iron exposure and iron store
s. Our findings suggest that dietary iron exposure may not fully expla
in the development of iron overload in Africans and are consistent wit
h the hypothesis that an iron-loading gene may also be implicated in p
athogenesis. (C) 1997 by The American Society of Hematology.