The aim of the M. Sc. thesis was to investigate iron digestibility in laboratory mice with iron deficiency. The study investigated the effect of two different diets, one with (control group) and the other without (anaemic group) iron supplementation, as well as the use of two different forms of iron supplementation, anon-organic bound iron (ferrous sulphate) and micronized microencapsulated elemental iron (ferrous syrup), via gavage, on iron digestibility. The main objective was to evaluate the iron intake of mice from these different sources and to calculate the digestibility using classical and indicator methods. Our results show that iron supplementation in the form of ferrous sulphate or iron syrup via gavage has a significant effect on iron digestibility. The highest apparent iron digestibility was observed in the anaemic group receiving the ferrous sulphate solution by gavage. This disproved the hypothesis that digestibility is better with iron syrup supplementation than with ferrous sulphate supplementation. However, we also confirmed the hypothesis that mice under iron-deficient conditions have better iron digestibility than mice fed an iron-containing diet.
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