. 2014 Jul 23;100(3):813–820. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.081505

TABLE 2.

Iron absorption from 3 test meals¹

	Reduced iron stores (serum ferritin concentration ≤25 μg/L; n = 16)	Replete iron stores (serum ferritin concentration >25 μg/L; n = 16)	All (n = 32)
Iron absorption (mg)
6 mg with meal	1.22 (0.87, 1.72)²^,a,*	0.37 (0.25, 0.51)²^,a	0.66 (0.48, 0.91)²^,a
60 mg with meal	6.00 (4.47, 8.06)^b,†	3.17 (2.47, 4.07)^b	4.36 (3.51, 5.41)^b
60 mg without meal	8.82 (6.75, 11.53)^b,‡	6.34 (5.54, 7.25)^c	7.48 (6.41, 8.71)^c
Fractional iron absorption (%)
6 mg with meal	20.4 (14.5, 28.7)²^,a,*	5.9 (4.1, 8.5)²^,a	11.0 (7.9, 15.2)²^,a
60 mg with meal	10.0 (7.4, 13.4)^b,†	5.3 (4.1, 6.8)^a	7.3 (5.9, 9.0)^b
60 mg without meal	14.7 (11.2, 19.2)^a,b,‡	10.6 (9.2, 12.1)^b	12.5 (10.7, 14.5)^a

All values are geometric means; 95% CIs in parentheses. *^,†,‡Significantly greater than in women with replete iron stores (independent t test): *P < 0.001, ^†P < 0.01, ^‡P < 0.05.

Significant difference between group means, P < 0.0001 (repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni correction). Post hoc analysis: labeled means in a column without a common letter differed, P < 0.01.