Iron in flour.

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

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Iron in flour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/78 page 12
    Table III. Mean percentage absorptions (without arcsin transformation) of various iron preparations by subjects with and without achlorhydria, some of whom were given an egg as part of the standard breakfast. Mean absorptions in brackets refer to ferrous sulphate given to the same subjects as those on which the mean they follow were based. | Ferric ammonium citrate Subjects Reduced Powdered iron iron Green Brown Normal or iron- deficient: Given an egg 0-85 (0:95) | 1-06 (0-88) Note * 0-28 (3-45) Not given an egg 5-10 (11-68) — 12-24 (14-00) 1-13 (23°47) Achlorhydric: Given an egg — — — 0-14 (0-70) Not given an egg 1-12 (3:50) — — — * Three results only from pilot experiment, 0-5 per cent, 0-9 per cent, 8-0 per cent. The absorption of ferrous sulphate by the different groups of subjects is summarized in Table IV. However, for the reasons given on p. 10, these pairs of absorptions cannot be compared directly. Table IV. Mean percentage absorption of ferrous sulphate by subjects with and without achlorhydria, some of whom were given an egg as part of the standard breakfast. ’ Absorption of Subjects Number ferrous sulphate (%) Normal or iron-deficient: Given an egg ae an at be sy 40 1-1 Not given an egg.. oie a es By 24 12-0 Achlorhydric: Given an egg a oe ae aS, ¥ 4 0-6 Not given an egg.. ie a a mh 6 3-4 The differences in the mean absorption of reduced iron, brown and green ferric ammonium citrate and ferrous sulphate appear to be small, provided comparisons allow for differences due to the composition of the groups and the effect of egg on availability of iron, and none is statistically significant. However, the consistency in the signs of the differences does suggest that reduced iron may be a little less available than ferrous sulphate or ferric ammonium citrate to subjects without gastric achlorhydria and much less available than these salts to subjects with gastric achlorhydria. On the other hand, powdered iron appears to be very much less available than any of the other iron preparations and this difference appears to be greatest in conditions which favour iron absorption e.g. in anaemic subjects given no egg.
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