Effect of milk and casein on the absorption of supplemental iron in the mouse and chick

Milk is an attractive vehicle for introducing iron supplements into iron-deficient infants and children. This study compares the effects of milk and caseins on the whole-body absorption of radioactive iron complexes in an attempt to resolve the controversy over whether milk and its constituent phosphoproteins seriously impair iron absorption. Evidence is presented to clarify the ce:role of the calcium-casein micelles of cow’s milk in binding iron donated by the ferric-nitrilotriacetate (NTA) complex. The absorption of iron from isolated Fe(III)-casein complexes was studied in mice as a function of the casein--to--Fe ratio and was compared with the absorption of Fe(III)-NTA at equivalent levels. Even at casein--to--Fe ratios higher than those found in conventional iron-supplemented cow’s milk (10-15 mg Fe/qt; casein P:Fe congruent to 34), absorption of iron(III) from the casein or NTA complex was not significantly different. There was no significant difference in the absorption of iron administered to mice and chicks as ferrous ion, ferric-NTA, or ferric fructose; nonfat cow’s milk did not inhibit the absorption of these iron compounds. For the chick, in fact, milk significantly enhanced the absorption of iron from the ferric-NTA chelate. In order to affect iron absorption significantly casein would have to be present considerably in excess of that found in conventionally supplemented cow’s milk.