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Iron in ferritin or in salts (ferrous sulfate) is equally bioavailable in nonanemic women^1,2,3

¹ From the Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA (PD-H and BL), and the Center for BioIron at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, CA (ECT).

Background: Recent studies in humans suggest that ferritin iron in soybeans has high bioavailability. However, direct evidence for this is lacking because the soybeans were intrinsically labeled; thus, iron bound to other ligands, such as phytate, was also labeled.

Objective: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the absorption of iron from extrinsically labeled, purified ferritin (horse spleen) reconstituted with either high-phosphate iron mineral (plant-type) or low-phosphate iron mineral (animal-type) and to compare it with iron absorption from ferrous sulfate.

Design: Nonanemic, healthy young women were fed a standard breakfast meal supplemented with ⁵⁹Fe-labeled ferritin or ferrous sulfate, in randomized order. Fifteen subjects received ferritin with the low-phosphate iron mineral, and 15 subjects received ferritin with the high-phosphate iron mineral. Iron absorption was measured in a whole-body counter after 14 and 28 d and by red blood cell incorporation after 28 d.

Results: There was no significant difference in iron absorption between ferritin and ferrous sulfate: low-phosphate iron mineral ferritin ( ± SD: 21.4 ± 14.7%) compared with ferrous sulfate (21.9 ± 14.6%), or high-phosphate iron mineral ferritin (22.2 ± 19.2%) compared with ferrous sulfate (16.7 ± 7.1%). Results obtained by using whole-body retention of iron and red blood cell incorporation differed with the type of iron, which suggests that pathways for iron uptake and utilization differed for the 2 forms.

Conclusions: Iron is equally well absorbed from ferritin and ferrous sulfate independent of the phosphate content of the ferritin iron mineral. Thus, dietary ferritin iron is likely to be a good source of iron.

Key Words: Iron • iron bioavailability • ferritin • ferritin iron • iron absorption • iron mineral ferritin

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