STUDIES IN IRON TRANSPORTATION AND METABOLISM

Abstract

THE INVESTIGATIONS reported INVESTIGATIONS low were designed to study the nutritional value of fortifying flour with iron. The four different iron preparations most commonly used in the enrichment program (ferrous sulfate, reduced iron, ferric orthophosphate, and sodium ferric pyrophosphate) were made from radioactive iron (Fe⁵⁹) of high specific activity and were baked into bread under conditions which closely simulated those employed in the baking industry. Absorption of Fe⁵⁹from the enriched bread was then measured in human subjects. This kind of evaluation has been long overdue. The original recommendation of the Council on Foods and Nutrition of the American Medical Association¹emphasized that there obviously would be no nutritional advantage in enriching bread or other food with iron if the added iron were not available for absorption. Yet the iron preparations which have come to be used, with the exception of ferrous sulfate, are certainly not the ones that