An extended study of the effect of Iranian village and urban flatbreads on the mineral balances of two men before and after supplementation with vitamin D

Consumption for a period of 98 days of Iranian flat breads made from lightly milled wheaten flours having high contents of fiber, phytate and phosphorus in amounts sufficient to supply about 60 percent of the energy of a diet adequate in other respects was accompanied by persisting fecal losses of calcium, magnesium and zinc by two men. The losses were undiminished or increased at the end of the study when the balances of the metals remained negative. No evidence of adaptation to the low uptakes of the three metals resulting from interference with absorption by fiber, phytate or phosphorus was found. Phosphorus balances also became negative during the final period. Concentrations of calcium and zinc in plasma and of phosphorus in serum gradually declined, while activities of alkaline phosphatase in serum rose and remained elevated. Deterioration of calcium and phosphorus metabolism was not arrested by administration of vitamin D (500 I.U. daily) for 20 days, presumably because both subjects were already vitamin D‐replete. Although the depletion of calcium produced by consumption of wholemeal breads mimics that occurring in vitamin D deficiency, the effects of bread consumption differ in being unresponsive to this vitamin. We suggest that the mineral depletion produced in man by consumption of large amounts of wholemeal breads is the counterpart of the rickets‐producing action of cereals in animals described by Mellanby (1948) and others. Index terms: Absorptioncalciumdietary fibermagnesiumphosphorusphytatericketsvitamin Dwholemeal breadzinc Notes This study was assisted by grants from the Pahlavi University (now Shiraz University) Research Council and from the Nutrition Foundation, Inc., New York. Some of the material included was presented in a preliminary report (Reinhold et al., 1976b)

Alkaline phosphatase · Animal science · Bioavailability · Biology · Calcium · Enzyme · Excretion · Magnesium · Nutrient · Phosphorus · Potassium · Rickets · Vitamin · Vitamin D and neurology · Zinc · Chemistry · Magnesium in Health and Disease · Nutrition and Health in Aging · Plant Micronutrient Interactions and Effects · Biochemistry · Endocrinology · Food Science

• Diachronic trends in humeral cortical thickness of near Eastern populations

  Open Access•Patricia Smith, Ronald A Bloom et al.•Journal of Human Evolution•1984

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• Zinc, calcium, phosphorus, and nitrogen balances of Iranian villagers following a change from phytate‐rich to phytate‐poor diets

  John G Reinhold, Hadi Hedayati et al.•Ecology of Food and Nutrition•1973

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