Reversible Dietary Hepatic Hæmosiderosis

Abstract

IT has been shown that the livers of rats fed a diet of corn grits and lard contain abnormally large amounts of iron¹. This increased iron deposition was ascribed to the low phosphorus content of the diet². The present experiments were devised to investigate whether hepatic siderosis induced by dietary means could be reversed if the factors responsible for the iron overload were removed. After iron overload was produced by placing animals on a corn grits diet supplemented with iron, this diet was replaced by a stock diet without iron supplement. The liver iron values were determined on the same animals immediately after iron overload was produced by the corn grits diet, and at the end of the experiment following a five-month ‘Purina’ diet regimen.