The limitations of cereal-milk diets for hemoglobin formation

Abstract

Summary 1. The following commercially prepared cereals : Ralston wheat cereal, Quaker rolled oats, Cream of Wheat, Mead's cereal, and Wheaties, have been studied for their hemoglobin-forming qualities when fed with whole milk to anemic rats. The cereals were fed at levels of 3 gin. per day and constituted approximately 40 per cent of the total caloric intake, which is quite comparable to the common practice in child nutrition. 2. The daily addition of 3 gin. of any of these cereals to the milk diet of anemic rats failed to induce normal hemoglobin formation. No hemoglobin production was observed in the case of Cream of Wheat, and the rate aJad degree of regeneration obtained with the other cereals was much inferior to that observed when the milk was supplemented with iron, copper, and manganese. Complete regeneration was never obtained with these cereal-milk diets, although the rats were continued on the diets from eight to ten weeks. 3. The addition of copper alone to the milk-cereal diets did not lead to appreciable increments in hemoglobin formation. 4. When the cereals were supplemented with iron alone, the hemoglobin regeneration was almost comparable to that obtained with mineralized milk. The addition of both iron and copper to the cereal products produced better appearing animals, although the hemoglobin formation was little improved over the addition of iron alone. 5. The iron in Quaker rolled oats, Mead's cereal, and Wheaties is not as available for hemoglobin formation as the iron in ferric chloride. The iron in Mead's cereal is slightly less available than that in the rolled oats or Wheaties. 6. In view of these facts it is suggested that the milk-cereal diets of children be constantly reinforced with foods rich in available iron or with iron salts standardized as to their copper content.