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Iron Availability to Rats from Soybeans

U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ithaca, New York 14853

Experiments were carried out to determine the effects of endogenous phytic acid in soybean seeds (Glycine max, var. ‘Amsoy’) on the bioavailability of ⁵⁹Fe to iron-depleted rats. Soybean plants were grown in nutrient solutions labeled with ⁵⁹Fe supplied at either 0.4 or 1.0 ppm iron in solution. Immature and mature soybean seeds were harvested and fed to male rats as a single dose. The phytic acid content of the immature and mature seeds averaged 0.61 and 1.71% dry weight, respectively. Varying the nutrient solution iron concentration supplied to the soybean plants did not significantly affect the iron concentration in the mature soybean seeds. When the ⁵⁹Fe-labeled seeds were fed to iron-deficient rats, ⁵⁹Fe from the mature seeds was more available than that from immature seeds even though the mature seeds contained approximately three times as much phytic acid. Autoclaving the mature seeds did not affect the absorption of ⁵⁹Fe by rats from the seeds. Immature soybean seeds contained much more insoluble ⁵⁹Fe than did mature soybean seeds. It was concluded that the availability of ⁵⁹Fe from soybean seeds, as measured by whole-body counting, was not directly correlated to the phytate content of the seeds; also immature soybean seeds apparently contain a factor or factors (other than phytic acid) that depresses iron availability.

KEY WORDS: • iron • biological availability • phytic acid • Phytin • soybeans

Manuscript received 30 August 1974.

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