Lack of Effect of Secondary Liver Extract (No. 55) on Absorption of Radioactive Iron. ∗

Summary

Iron tagged with the radioactive isotope Fe⁵⁹ was fed with and without supplements of liver extract No. 55 to a group of 11 normal adult women. There were no obvious differences in the absorption and utilization of iron when this material was given alone or in conjunction with the “secondary anemia fraction of liver.” In one case of human iron deficiency due to multiple acute and chronic hemorrhage there was also no difference in the absorption of iron as indicated by this method.

The “summation response” described by Whipple, Robscheit-Robbins and Walden is apparently not related to the effect of the secondary liver extract on absorption of iron in the gastro-intestinal tract.