Why is ferritin a fantastic source of dietary iron?
Ferritin is an iron-storage protein found in most living organisms; we call plant ferritin “phytoferritin” and this is highly concentrated within our HiFe peas.
A few years ago, the Balk group collaborated with Prof Sue Fairweather-Tait to investigate the bioavailability of iron in phytoferritin derived from pea seeds. A PhD student, Tony Perfecto used in vitro digestion and intestinal cell culture to demonstrate that not only was pea ferritin bioavailable, it also reduced oxidative stress by 60% in comparison to ferrous sulphate (typical compound in iron supplements ). Oxidative stress has been suggested to contribute to the negative effects of traditional iron supplements on the gastrointestinal tract.
Read the full publication here, which also has references to other studies showing the excellent bioavailability of phytoferritin:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6074850/
