Food iron and lead absorption in humans1'2

Food iron and lead absorption weremeasured simultaneously in 28 subjects by extrinsically labeling three consecutive meals with the radioactive tracers, iron59-sulfate and lead 203-chloride. Absorption was measured directly inallsubjects bywhole-bodycountingand indirectly in 15 subjects by assessing subsequent levels of tracer in blood. Iron status of the subjects ranged fromirondeficient toreplete, thus providing a wide range of iron absorption. Statistically significant positive correlations wereobtainedbetweenfood-iron andleadabsorption measured by whole-bodycountingand alsobetweenthetracerlevels ofironand leadintheblood. However,thecorrelation betweentheabsorptionofthetwo elementswas notstrong, as evidenced bythefactthatonly50% of the subjects who hyperabsorbed iron also hyperabsorbed lead. Am J C/in Nuir 1986;44:248-256.