Cereal Chem 58:6 - 11.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Animal Models for Assessing Bioavailability of Essential and Toxic Elements.

M. R. Spivey Fox, R. M. Jacobs, A. O. L. Jones, B. E. Fry, Jr., M. Rakowska, R. P. Hamilton, B. F. Harland, C. L. Stone, and S.-H. Tao. Copyright 1981 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Mineral bioavailability problems are increasingly recognized as important in assessing the nutritional quality or safety of a dietary supplement, food, or diet. The chemical species of the element and other components of the test substance, food, or diet may influence bioavailability of the element. These factors affect toxic elements, such as lead and cadmium; the established essential elements; and probably the "new" trace elements, such as nickel, vanadium, and silicon. Improvements are needed in designing animal experiments to mimic more closely human dietary practices and problems and to improve the sensitivity and specificity of assessing nutritional effects so that animal studies can provide data more relevant to humans. From the large number of experimental variables that need to be studied in animals, minimal conditions to produce adverse effects need to be identified and investigated in detail for biochemical mechanisms and for making direct comparisons between animals and humans.