[DIYbio] Re: Bioavailable iron tests?

• I agree with Jeff, I don't think there's any easy DIY tests for iron content. If you have a nearby university with a chemistry department, you may be able to strike up a collaboration...they could potentially get a quick publication out of it.
• "Bio-available iron" is a complex concept. Fe2+, Fe3+, and Heme iron are all absorbed, but with different efficiency that is further affected by acidity, phytate, etc. Most nutritional information just gives the total iron even though it can be misleading.
• You'll have a hard time finding zero iron content food, but most fruits and starchy foods are pretty low unless they are iron fortified.  You could go with polenta for example.
• There is a small amount of research published on this subject, but it definitely looks like an area that needs more work.  Here is a search on pubmed...
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Iron+content+of+food+cooked+in+iron+utensils.

My friends and I are curious about the amount of iron that gets into food when using a cast iron skillet. Are there any DIY tests for bio-available iron (preferably one that is quantifiable rather than a simple "yes/no iron is here") that we could use?

Also what skillet-cookable foods have zero iron content? I'd rather not have to run two batches of tests, one with and without the iron skillet, especially because that introduces potentially confounding variables.

Thanks,

Dan