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 iron deficiency in rats. Isotopes that had been used in the past were avoided because of contemporary knowledge of the physiological and structural complexity of ferritin protein and the solid iron mineral. Rats made anemic by iron-deficient diets were given equivalent amounts of iron as FeSO4, horse spleen ferritin, baked soybean meal, or soybean meal plus ferritin. Full recovery (89-109%) from anemia and increased tissue iron occurred after 28 d of treatment with any of the iron sources, which contrasts to past bioavailability studies using 59Fe-labeled ferritin and generally shorter periods of observation. Cultivar-specific variability was observed in soybean seed soluble iron and ferritin content (1.9-2.0 times the control cultivar, Arksoy), which was apparently heritable. The combined data suggest that manipulating ferritin expression and other soluble components of seed iron in soybeans and possibly other seeds, using Mendelian and biotechnological approaches, could contribute to a sustainable solution to global problems of iron deficiency.