Correlation of postabsorptive serum iron increase and erythrocyte-59Fe-incorporation with the whole body retention of absorbed59Fe

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Abstract
Following the oral application of 100 mg59Fe-equivalents in different ferrous iron preparations the whole body retention (R) and erythrocyte incorporation (EI) of absorbed59Fe as well as the postabsorptive serum increase SII after 3 h were estimated by intraindividual and simultaneous comparison in healthy subjects with normal and depleted iron stores. The regression equationR=(0.0±0.4)+(1.16±0.04)×EI and a Spearman rank correlation coefficientr=0.93 were found to describe the correlation between whole body-59Fe-retentionR (mg Fe) and erythrocyte-59Fe-incorporation EI (mg Fe) after 2 weeks. The correlation between the postabsorptive serum iron increase SII (µmol/l) after 3 h and the whole body-59Fe-retentionR after 2 weeks is characterized by the regression equationR=(0.0±0.8)+(0.36±0.03)×SII and a correlation coefficientr=0.88. Whole body counting of absorbed59Fe represents the most sensitive, reliable and only quantitative method for measuring iron absorption or bioavailability in man. If however this method is not available postabsorptive serum increase and it's conversion into iron absorption using the described regression equation is a useful substitute for the at least semiquamtitative estimation of iron bioavailability from oral iron preparations.