The irreplaceable image: Black tea delays recovery from iron-deficiency anemia.

A 37-year old woman was referred to our clinic with severe iron-deficiency anemia which failed to respond to iron replacement therapy. Continued blood loss and compliance problems were excluded. Since the patient reported a daily intake of two liters of black tea, it was suspected that the tea had adverse effects on intestinal iron absorption. When the patient stopped drinking black tea her body iron stores readily replenished and she progressively recovered (Figure 1).