Heme-iron absorption is saturable by heme-iron dose in women

In developed countries where meat is an important constituent of the diet, much of the dietary iron is in the heme-iron form as hemoglobin and myoglobin. Heme-iron is absorbed more efficiently than inorganic iron by the human intestine. Thus, it is important to know how the dose of heme-iron affects iron absorption. The purpose of this study was to establish the dose-effect of heme-iron on the percentage and absolute amount of iron absorbed. Twenty-seven healthy women (28- to 50-y-old) were selected to participate in two iron absorption studies. Through the use of iron isotopes ((59)Fe and (55)Fe), the studies were performed to characterize the dose-response curve of non-heme-iron absorption (ferrous sulfate), and to establish the dose-response curve of heme-iron absorption (hemoglobin). The labeled hemoglobin was prepared by use of red blood cells from rabbits. The geometric means (+/-1 SEM range) of non-heme iron absorbed were 0.2 (0.2-0.3), 1.2 (1.0-1.5), 6.7 (5.7-8.0) and 13.0 (11.5-14.6) mg of iron for doses of 0.5, 5, 50 and 100 mg of iron as ferrous sulfate, respectively; and 0.1 (0.1-0.2), 0.4 (0.3-0.4), 2.2 (2.0-2.4) and 2.2 (1.7-3.0) mg of iron for doses of 0.5, 3, 15 and 30 mg of heme-iron as hemoglobin, respectively. The fitted curves for heme and non-heme iron differed (P < 0.04). These results strongly suggest that the heme-iron absorption pathway is saturable.