title: An animal model to study iron availability from human diets.
abstract: 1. The retention of ferric- and ferrous-iron was determined in guinea-pigs and monkeys using 55Fe and 59Fe. 2. The bioavailability of Fe from two typical Indian diets based on rice and wheat was determined in humans and monkeys using a 59Fe tracer and whole-body counting. 3. The retention ratio, ferric-Fe; ferrous-Fe was 0-90 in guinea-pigs and 0-33 in monkeys, indicating that monkeys absorb ferrous-Fe preferentially. 4. In monkeys retention of Fe from the test diets, as from ferrous ascorbate was lower than that in humans. 5. When food-Fe retention was expressed in relation to inorganic-Fe retention the value for retention ratio, food Fe: inorganic Fe in monkeys was similar to that in human subjects. 6. The results indicate that the monkey can be used as a model to study Fe absorption from human diets.
mesh_terms: D000747:Anemia, Hypochromic / Q000209:etiology*; D000818:Animals; D001682:Biological Availability; D004032:Diet; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D002523:Edible Grain; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D000882:Haplorhini; D007194:India; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D007504:Iron Radioisotopes; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D014915:Whole-Body Counting
chemical_list: D007504:Iron Radioisotopes; D007501:Iron