title: The iron stable isotope fingerprint of the human diet.
abstract: The stable isotopes of iron disclose the metabolic pathways of iron within the human food chain. We have measured with precise multicollector ICP-MS the iron concentrations and stable isotope composition of 60 food products that are representative of the average German diet. We find that vegetables fall within the range typical of strategy I plants (-0.1 to -1.4‰ in δ(56)Fe), crop products and processed crop foods into the range typical of strategy II plants (-0.6 to +0.4‰), and animal products into the (54)Fe-enriched range known for animal tissue and blood (-1.1 to -2.7‰). Weighting these isotope compositions by the average iron dietary sources, we find a representative composition of European vegetarian diet of -0.45‰, whereas that of omnivores is -0.82‰. For human blood, known to be enriched in light iron isotopes, we find fractionation factors for iron absorption of -2.0 and -2.3‰ for vegetarians (female and male, respectively) and -1.3 and -1.5‰ for omnivores (female and male, respectively). Knowing these fractionation factors is a prerequisite for using stable iron isotope ratios in blood as monitors of intestinal iron uptake regulation.
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Center Potsdam GFZ German Center for Geosciences Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany, and Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Friedhelm
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: von Blanckenburg
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Noordmann
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guelke-Stelling
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D007503:Iron Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry*; D011200:Poultry; D013552:Swine; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007503:Iron Isotopes