Iron in flour.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Health
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Iron in flour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/78 page 7
    In both the small pilot experiment and the first main experiment, estimations of absorptions were obtained which were very much lower than had been expected (around | per cent instead of 5—10 per cent). Therefore, in addition to examining differences between iron preparations in subsequent experiments, other factors which might have accounted for these low absorptions were examined. Pilot experiment. Three haematologically ‘normal’ subjects were each given a standard breakfast which included approximately 1 oz (28 g) of bread into which had been baked about 1 mg elemental iron incorporated into brown ferric ammonium citrate and labelled with about 1 uwCi of Fe*. Experiment I. Fourteen haematologically ‘normal’ subjects received 1 oz (28 g) of bread containing 0-7-1 mg of iron labelled with Fe. This had been incorporated into reduced iron for seven subjects and into green ferric ammonium citrate for the other seven. Each subject was also given, as part of the same meal, 1 oz (28 g) of bread containing 0-7-1 mg of iron labelled with Fe®*® as ferrous sulphate. Experiment II. This experiment was similar to Experiment I, except that two iron preparations were not given to any subject on the same day. Instead, standard breakfasts were given on six consecutive days and portions of bread containing the two iron preparations were given on alternate days. With each standard meal 0:7-1-0 mg of iron was given, though the total dose of Fe®® and Fe®*® in all the breakfasts together was the same as that given in the single meal of other experiments. Experiment IIT. Iron powder labelled with Fe®? and ferrous sulphate labelled with Fe®> were baked into different loaves. A 1 oz (28 g) portion of each of these, containing 0-7-1 mg of iron, was given to each subject in a single standard breakfast. Bread had been made for half the subjects from normal flour, and for half from flour to which no calcium carbonate etc. had been added (p. 33). In addition to calcium carbonate a small amount of iron is normally added to flour, so that the total iron content of the bread given to half the subjects in this experiment will have contained about 0-2 mg less than that given in the other experiments. The subjects for this experiment represented a larger range of haemoglobin levels than in the previous experiments and included four with gastric achlorhydria. Experiment IV. This experiment was conducted to supplement the data on powdered iron and to examine further the effects of some of the factors which might have explained the low absorptions in the previous experiments. Eight haematologically ‘normal’ and four iron-deficient subjects were given 0-7-1 -0 mg iron powder, labelled with Fe*®, incorporated into bread. Ferrous sulphate, with 0:7-1-0 mg iron labelled with Fe, was baked into bread and given to six subjects. The other six subjects were given the same amount of labelled ferrous sulphate in solution together with an extra | mg of inert iron as ferrous sulphate as a ‘carrier’ to minimize absorption on glass surfaces etc. The ‘standard break- fast’ was changed slightly in this experiment and for half the subjects contained no egg, and half received bread made from flour to which no calcium carbonate etc. had been added, as in Experiment III. Experiment V. In this experiment the absorption of brown ferric ammonium citrate by normal subjects was examined, together with the absorption of reduced i
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