Table 2.
Analysis of meals of farm women for total iron, dialyzable iron and in vitro iron bioavailability
| Parameter | Meal | P value | CD at 5 % | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | ||||
| Total iron, mg | ||||||
| Range | 1.03–4.14 | 0.99–8.85 | 0.50–9.67 | |||
| Mean ± SD | 2.31 ± 1.04 | 2.66 ± 1.99 | 3.10 ± 2.11 | NS | – | 8.07 ± 3.75 |
| Dialyzable iron, mg @ | ||||||
| Range | 0.12–0.30 | 0.11–0.33 | 0.01–0.90 | |||
| Mean ± SD | 0.17 ± 0.06 | 0.18 ± 0.07 | 0.28 ± 0.21 | NS | – | 0.63 ± 0.25 |
| In vitro iron bioavailability, % | ||||||
| Range | 5.02–11.62 | 3.73–11.14 | 2.01–12.49 | |||
| Mean ± SD | 7.92 ± 1.64 | 7.54 ± 2.01 | 8.86 ± 3.10 | NS | – | 8.11 ± 1.34a |
P value-0.01significant at 1 %
aMean value of breakfast, lunch and dinner
†Dialyzable iron (Miller 1981)