PURIFIED FERRITIN AND SOYBEAN-MEAL CAN BE SOURCES OF IRON FOR TREATING IRON-DEFICIENCY IN RATS

Ferritin and soybean meal were reevaluated as dietary treatments of ir on deficiency in rats. Isotopes that had been used in the past were av oided because of contemporary knowledge of the physiological and struc tural complexity of ferritin protein and the solid iron mineral. Rats made anemic by iron-deficient diets were given equivalent amounts of i ron as FeSO4, horse spleen ferritin, baked soybean meal, or soybean me al plus ferritin. Full recovery (89-109%) from anemia and increased ti ssue iron occurred after 28 d of treatment with any of the iron source s, which contrasts to past bioavailability studies using Fe-59-labeled ferritin and generally shorter periods of observation. Cultivar-speci fic variability was observed in soybean seed soluble iron and ferritin content (1.9-2.0 times the control cultivar, Arksoy), which was appar ently heritable. The combined data suggest that manipulating ferritin expression and other soluble components of seed iron in soybeans and p ossibly other seeds, using Mendelian and biotechnological approaches, could contribute to a sustainable solution to global problems of iron deficiency.