Qiaosha Zhu ^a,1, Yang Qian ^b,1, Ying Yang ^a, Weifeng Wu ^a,

Jingli Xie ^a,c,*, Dongzhi Wei ^a,c

^a State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Department of Food Science and Technology, School of
Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
^b Department of Radiotherapy of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
^c Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing (SCICB), Shanghai 200237, China

 

Carbonyl iron powder (CIP) has been used as a food additive or mineral supplement. However, the effects of CIP on iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and its subchronic toxicity have not been investigated. We found that oral administration of CIP at a dose of 2.96 mg/kg recovered the hemoglobin concentration of erythrocytes of IDA rats to the normal level after 8 days. The no observed adverse effect level of CIP in rats was considered to be > 200 mg/kg. The hematological and serum biochemical parameters of the rats did not differ significantly between the control and treated groups. There were no morphological changes observed in the organs including liver, kidneys, spleen, testes, stomach and intestine. Therefore, CIP might be a safe iron supplement.

 

Keywords: carbonyl iron powder, iron deficiency anemia, iron supplements, subchronic toxicity