ABSTRACT
The bran of black rice contains 210～480 ppm iron, 50～70ppm zinc and 14.1% protein. In order to evaluate the bioavailability of bran iron, its relative biological availability (RBA) has been studied by means of the hemoglobin regeneration technique in anemic rats. All the rats were divided into five groups, the low-iron basal diet was supplemented with 23ppm Fe of ferrous sulfate in group A, 11.5% bran in group B, 11.5% bran plus 0.2% Vc in group C, 11.5% bran plus 2.3% cooked lean pork in group D and nothing in group E as the negative control The efficiencies of converting iron from the diet of group A, B, C, D into hemoglobin were 59%, 33%, 33% and 39% respectively and the relative biological availabilities were 100%, 56%, 56% and 66% respectively.