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Gastrointestinal iron absorption, by means of whole body counting, has been measured in 15 patients with chronic renal failure, not requiring dialysis. Whole body retention 14 days after oral administration of 10 muCi 59Fe together with a carrier dose of 10 mg Fe2+ was taken as expression of absorption. The percentage incorporation in the total erythrocyte mass of administered 59Fe (erythrocyte incorporation) and absorbed 59Fe (red cell utilization) was estimated as well. Iron absorption was 9.6+/-2.0 (S.D.)% (geometric mean) and erythrocyte incorporation 7.5+/-2.3 (S.D.)% (geometric mean) while red cell utilization averaged 80.3+/-4.8 (S.E.M.)% (arithmetic mean). None of these parameters were significantly different from those obtained in a normal control group (p greater than 0.5, p greater than 0.9 and p greater than 0.2, respectively). The correlation between iron absorption and erythrocyte incorporation was highly significant (r=1.00, p less than 0.001). Iron supplementation is often indicated in the investigated category of patients due to increased blood loss and insufficient iron intake and should be given orally in consideration of the normal gastrointestinal absorption.

Gastrointestinal iron absorption has been measured in 27 apparently healthy subjects (8 males and 19 females) by means of whole body counting. Whole body retention 14 days after oral administration of 10 muCi59Fe with a carrier dose of 9.9 mg Fe2+ was used as an expression of absorption. The percentage incorporation of the orally applied 59Fe into the total erythrocyte mass within 14 days (erythrocyte incorporation) was estimated as well. Geometric mean iron absorption was 9.1 +/- 2.2 (S.D.) % in males and 8.3 +/- 2.1% in females; in the entire series it was 8.5 +/- 2.1%. The difference between males and females was not significant. Arithmetic mean red cell utilization of absorbed 59Fe was 92.9 +/- 4.0 (S.E.M.) % in the entire series. The correlation between iron absorption and erythrocyte incorporation was found to be highly significant (r=0.96, p less than 0.001).