Interaction of Iron with Other Nutrients

Interactions among the trace minerals are common and often well-coordinated to meet the body’s needs.

A good source of one nutrient may be a poor food source of another and factors that enhance the action of some trace minerals may interfere with others.

Excessive iron supplementation is often a practice among humans and this excessive intake of non-heme iron may have detrimental effect on zinc nutrition.

It is believe that the basis of interaction between these two minerals is their competition for some portion of a common absorptive pathway.

As a general rule, excessive concentration of one divalent ion in the gastrointestinal tract may inhibit absorption of other divalent ions.

Conversely, a deficiency of one divalent ion may enhance the absorption of others. For example, iron deficiency makes the body more vulnerable to lead poisoning. There are clear indications that iron deficiency promotes cadmium retention and may this decrease the tolerance of high environmental or dietary cadmium levels.

At the metabolic level, an interrelationship appears to exist between iron and copper because the role of copper containing ceruplasmin as feroxidase.

Also ascorbic acid and iron are interrelated on that activation of several deoxygenases by ferrous iron appears dependent on the presence of ascorbate.

It is believed that stimulatory effect of ascorbic acid in iron absorption is exerted by both its reducing capacity, thereby keeping iron in more easily absorbed ferrous +II from and its chelating properties, keeping iron in a soluble, absorbable form.

Another example is inhibition of iron by phytic acid from whole grain, nuts, and legumes.
Interaction of Iron with Other Nutrients