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Updated: May 6, 2026

Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
The iron stable isotope fingerprint of the human diet
Friedhelm von Blanckenburg1, Janine Noordmann, Monika Guelke-Stelling
1Helmholtz Center Potsdam GFZ German Center for Geosciences Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany, and Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
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.
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