Sajia Athai, Class of 2026
Scrolling through TikTok and finding mukbangs and cooking vlogs of young adults making steak and eggs has now become the norm. Everyone loves a good steak, especially if they’re iron-deficient and love meat. Research reveals that using iron cast pans can increase the amount of iron people consume from their foods, leading to positive impacts on iron supplementation.
Led by Cuizhu Shi and his team of agricultural scientists at the Key Laboratory of Food Engineering at Guizhou University, researchers assessed the accuracy of developed kinetic models to measure the quantity of iron released from pans and whether these amounts would significantly impact iron intake. The study evaluated the efficiency of iron release under cooking conditions using materials such as cast iron pots, refined iron pots, non-refined iron pots, and stainless steel pots. Food items like vinegar, tomatoes, and pickled vegetables were chosen to test distinct attributes for iron release and absorption. Since foods naturally contain acids that interact with cooking pans, the researchers tested food under controlled temperature and pH conditions using acetate and citrate buffers and varying cooking times.
To measure the amount of iron released from the pots, the researchers used the 1,10-phenanthroline method, a technique for detecting iron in biological samples. Using hydrochloric acid, the 1,10-phenanthroline reacts to form an orange-red complex whose absorbance is observed. This absorbance is measured by its wavelength and converted into a graph that forms a calibration curve. Through the curve, a linear regression equation of y = 0.2012x + 0.0002 and a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9994 was found, verifying that the data results are reliable and can be utilized to determine iron release differences with cooking temperatures.
Results reveal that most iron release was observed through the use of a citrate buffer and high temperatures when cooking the vegetables. This was demonstrated through multiple trials of different buffers and temperatures ranging from 50 to 97 degrees Celsius. At 97 degrees Celsius, foods cooked with citrate buffer exhibited the highest iron release, possibly contributing to iron supplementation. Though the results need to be observed further for future experimentation, food scientists consider this conclusion to be integral to the development of iron supplementation under varied cooking conditions.
Figure 1: Steak has become increasingly popular as a sufficient and delicious source of protein.
Works Cited
[1] Effect of cooking conditions on iron release from pots and development of kinetic models for iron supplementation in nips. Current Research in Food Science. August 27, 2024 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124001564?via%3Dihub#sec2
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