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Measurement and Content of Nonheme and Total Iron in Muscle
This research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant PFR-7919124. The authors wish to acknowledge and express their appreciation to Alice Kippola, Carolyn Haringa, and Mark Kuo for technical assistance, and to Edna Caslick for secretarial assistance.
ABSTRACT
A method for determining the nonheme iron content of meats was evaluated and used to determine the nonheme and heme iron content of selected muscles from beef, pork, and lamb. The method allows a quantitative determination of nonheme iron in meat and is influenced to only a minor degree by the presence of heme iron. Heating meat in a boiling water bath increased the nonheme iron content of the meat. Possibly, heating accelerates oxidative cleavage of the prophyrin ring thereby allowing release of the iron from the heme complex. Total iron content differed between muscles in pork and beef but not in lamb. Heme iron, expressed as percent of the total iron, in raw pork, lamb, and beef average 49, 57, and 62%, respectively.