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Although iron deficiency is a common hematologic disorder, our understanding of factors affecting absorption of oral iron supplements is incomplete. Researchers studied the fractional absorption of iron from oral iron supplements administered under six different conditions in 34 healthy, nonanemic, iron-deficient females (median age, 28), each of whom served as her own control. The conditions were separated by at least several days, and in each, the oral supplements contained 100 mg of radiolabeled ferrous fumarate.
Compared with the control condition — overnight fasting followed by a morning iron dose taken with water three hours before coffee or breakfast — a morning dose taken with either 80 mg or 500 mg of ascorbic acid significantly imp…