Relative bioavailability of two iron fortificants, electrolytic Fe and ferric orthophosphate, was related to that of the reference ferrous sulfate with in vitro and rat model depletion-repletion methods in four laboratories to compare values directly with those obtained in a parallel human study. In vitro testing was performed on Fe compounds with both solubility and dialysis in a simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion system. Two depletion-repletion techniques, hemoglobin-regeneration efficiency (HRE) and an official method of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC), were examined. AOAC relative biological values (RBV) of electrolytic Fe were 0.66 and 0.78 and of FePO4 were 0.25 and 0.34. HRE values were 0.78 and 0.58 for electrolytic Fe and FePO4, respectively. When compared with FeSO4 in a radiolabeled farina-based meal fed to humans, the RBV of FePO4 was 0.25 and electrolytic Fe 0.75. Results obtained with the AOAC method serve as the most reliable prediction of Fe bioavailability in the human although in vitro dialysis is a promising screening technique.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services have developed a five-point set of sodium initiatives aimed at moderation of sodium consumption, improved sodium-related information for consumers and health professionals, and improved consumer choice in the marketplace. Implimentation is fundamentally based on a voluntary premise, and indications to date are that the program is working. FDA has established a series of tracking systems to measure change over time, particularly relative to changes in the sodium content of the food supply, in the sodium content of American diets, in sodium labeling -both quantitative and qualitative, in consumer understanding of the sodium-and-hypertension problem, and in consumer food purchasing practices. Some of these efforts are conducted in cooperation with other Federal agencies such as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Department of Agriculture. The epidemiological approach to measurement of the prevalence of hypertensive disease as provided by the periodic National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys is at the center of all other tracking systems to measure effectiveness of the national effort to reduce sodium intakes and thereby hopefully moderate the magnitude and severity of hypertensive disease as a major public health problem in the United States. (Hypertension 4 (supp HI): III-170-III-175, 1982) KEY WORDS • Food and Drug Administration federal health programs sodium tracking • epidemiology Sodium InitiativesThese sodium initiatives came about because a clear consensus gradually emerged in the mid-and late-1970s from the biomedical community that it would be