American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 23, 1027-1032, Copyright © 1970 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Availability of Iron from Labeled Wheat, Chickpea, Broad Bean, and Okra in Anemic Blood Donors

¹ From the Division of Food Technology and Nutrition, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

Iron absorption from isotopically labeled wheat, chickpea, broad bean, and okra, each prepared in a commonly consumed form, was determined in 37 iron-deficient adult men with a history of repeated blood donation. The absorption of food iron in each subject was compared with that of ferrous ascorbate. Anemic blood donors exhibited a high rate of absorption of inorganic as well as food iron. The absorption of either food or ascorbate iron was not significantly correlated with any of the usual hematologic indices of iron deficiency; however, logarithm percent absorption of inorganic iron was significantly correlated with the transferrin saturation percent. Whole wheat iron was significantly less available than the iron in the other vegetable sources examined. It is suggested that a high degree of dependence on wheat as a source of dietary iron may contribute to iron-deficiency anemia.