ABSTRACT
AIMS: The objective was to study the comparative effects of the addition of meat from beef, chicken, mullet and hake to a bean seed ragout (BSR) on iron metabolism and iron status in growing rats. METHODS: The iron metabolism and the iron status were investigated through the exploration of the total iron in the blood and the reserve of iron stored in the liver, spleen, intestine, heart and tibia. RESULTS: Our findings showed that the iron concentration in total blood significantly increased only in the BSR + beef group by 23% (p < 0.006) as compared to the control group (BSR). However, it significantly decreased in the BSR + chicken group by 19.3% (p < 0.002). The reserve of iron stored in the liver significantly increased in the BSR + beef and the BSR + hake groups by 69.5% (p < 0.003) and 160% (p < 2.5.10(-7)) respectively, as compared to the control group. The effect of hake was more pronounced than beef. However, in the BSR + chicken and the BSR + mullet groups, the reserve of iron stored in the liver did not significantly differ from the control group. The reserve of iron stored in the spleen increased significantly in all groups. The increase has reached 370% in the BSR + hake group (p < 1.10(-7)). In the intestine, the reserve of iron was significantly enhanced only in the group fed BSR + beef by 120% (p < 0.01). In contrast, this reserve was lower in the rats fed BSR + mullet than in the other groups, a reduction of 64% (p < 1.10(-5)) as compared to the control group. In the heart, iron concentration significantly increased between 36.5 and 50%, as compared to the control group. The iron stored in the tibia significantly increased only in the beef and the hake groups by 88% (p < 0.05) and 57.4% (p < 0.02) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrated that beef, chicken, mullet and hake did not have the same effect on iron metabolism and iron status in growing rats fed BSR diets. The rats fed BSR + beef have a better iron status than those fed BSR + hake, BSR + chicken or BSR + mullet in descending order.
