IHAT Absorption Kinetics

At MRC Human Nutrition Research, the investigators have developed an engineered analogue of the ferritin-core for safe and effective iron supplementation. Iron hydroxide adipate tartrate (IHAT) is a tartrate-modified, nano-disperse Fe(III) oxo-hydroxide, formed in an adipate buffer, with similar functional properties and small primary particle size (\~2 nm) as the iron found in the ferritin core; it better mimics iron absorption from food than the non-physiological bolus doses of ferrous sulphate currently used. This exploratory study will test the hypothesis that IHAT has equivalent bioavailability to ferrous sulphate but produces a less harmful post-ingestion rise in transferrin saturation. The design is a 3-arm (IDA, non-IDA and IDA-IHAT new manufacture), crossover, randomised, single-dose study. Primary endpoint: Relative bioavailability value of IHAT versus ferrous sulphate. This will be determined from the red blood cell incorporation of isotope-labelled iron 14 days following a single oral dose. Secondary endpoints: Serum iron at 0, 2, 4, 6 hours following a single dose of each iron compound. Transferrin saturation at 0, 2, 4, 6 hours following a single dose of each iron compound. Plasma 58Fe and 57Fe at 0, 2, 4, 6 hours. Pathogen growth using ex vivo assays in serum collected from each subject at 0, 2, 4 and 6 hours following a single dose.