Effects of the increasing consumption of dairy products upon iron absorption

The effect of the increasing consumption of dairy products upon the iron absorption was tested in vivo on volunteers using the extrinsic tag method (with 55 Fe and 59 Fe). The total iron absorption coefficient of a typical French meal and of the same meal after addition of a glass of low-fat skimmed milk or plain yoghurt was measured. Non-heme iron absorption was 2.2% for the standard meal alone, 2.0% with the yogurt and 2.1% with the glass of milk. Total iron absorption (i.e. measured non-heme iron absorption plus estimated heme iron absorption) for the three meals was, respectively, 9.7%, 9.5% and 9.4%. These results suggest that, under real-life conditions, increasing the amount of dairy products probably has no effect upon iron absorption in meals containing appreciable amounts of dairy products.