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Updated: Aug 8, 2025

Electrochemiluminescence Assays for Human Islet Autoantibodies
Published on: March 23, 2018
Interaction Between Dietary Iron Intake and Genetically Determined Iron Overload: Risk of Islet Autoimmunity and
Steffen U Thorsen1,2, Xiang Liu3, Yachana Kataria4
11Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Objective:
To examine whether iron intake and genetically determined iron overload interact in predisposing to the development of childhood islet autoimmunity (IA) and type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Research Design And Methods:
In The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study, 7,770 genetically high-risk children were followed from birth until the development of IA and progression to T1D. Exposures included energy-adjusted iron intake in the first 3 years of life and a genetic risk score (GRS) for increased circulating iron.
Results:
We found a U-shaped association between iron intake and risk of GAD antibody as the first autoantibody. In children with GRS ≥2 iron risk alleles, high iron intake was associated with an increased risk of IA, with insulin as first autoantibody (adjusted hazard ratio 1.71 [95% CI 1.14; 2.58]) compared with moderate iron intake.
Conclusions:
Iron intake may alter the risk of IA in children with high-risk HLA haplogenotypes.
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