Assessment of intestinal absorption of iron administered orally as chondroitin sulphate in normal subjects

The behaviour of sideraemia has been studied in order to assess the intestinal absorption of iron of a new compound, ferric chondroitin sulphate after oral administration in 12 normal volunteers. After administration of 90 mg of iron as ferric chondroitin sulphate, sideraemia rose from a basal value of 88 ± 27 μg/dl to a value of 128 ± 22 μg/dl at the third hour. Variance analysis showed that the increases were statistically significant (F = 27.7; p<0.00001). In the same subjects, the test was carried out in accordance with a randomised crossover design in two periods after administration of 91 mg of ferritinic iron: sideraemia rose from a basal value of 92 ± 27 μg/dl to a value at the third hour of 97 ± 28 μg/dl, moderate increases but statistically significant (F = 3.2; P = 0.0354). Variance analysis by repeated measurements showed that increases in sideraemia were significantly higher after iron administration as ferric chondroitin sulphate than after administration of ferritinic iron (F = 13.18; p = 0.0042). This study documents the good bioavailability of the iron contained in ferric chondroitin sulphate.