Cereal Chem 56:253 - 256.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Ferrous Sulfate Iron Absorption from Diets C ontaining Wheat Flour and Shorts by Anemic Rats.

J. Miller. Copyright 1979 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Wheat flour and shorts, which contained both bran and germ, were added to nutritionally adequate diets formulated to test the effects of these two products on utilization of iron from ferrous sulfate by anemic rats. Regressions of hemoglobin iron gain on ferrous sulfate iron consumed were calculated for rats fed diets containing: no wheat, 250, 500, and 750 g/kg of wheat flour, and 70, 140, and 210 g/kg of wheat shorts. Wheat products were added to the diets to replace corn starch which contributed only calories to the nutritional requirements of the rats. Statistical analysis of the parameters for the seven regressions lines relating iron intake and hemoglobin regeneration showed no significant differences among the slopes of the lines. These data indicated that the two wheat products had no measureable effect on iron absorption from ferrous sulfate under the conditions of this experiment. Furthermore, response to diets containing both ferrous sulfate and one of the wheat products could be predicted from the sum of responses to diets containing each iron source separately. This is further indication that the wheat products did not inhibit absorption of iron from the inorganic salt. It is proposed that the unfavorable amino acid profile of cereals is probably responsible for ineffieient absorption of inorganic iron from dietary regimes in which most of the protein is supplied by cereal foods.