This kind of soy sauce could best be used in uncooked foods or foods already cooked in order to avoid destruction of ascorbic acid activity. The former was 6.27 per cent, and the latter was 7.09 per cent. These results indicate that the vegetable meal containing potatoes, cabbage, green beans, and rice does not have more potent inhibitors than soy sauce has, a fact that is of considerable practical importance. It is interesting to notice that the iron absorption from unfortified soy sauce was 6.95 per cent, and if we use the reference dose at 40 per cent to recalculate each individual's absorption data, it increases to 10.8 per cent. It is well known that meat enhances non-haem iron absorption.
Tea is one of the most well-known inhibitors of iron absorption.
In the present study a green tea, widely used in China was selected. It also had a marked inhibitory effect. This work was supported by a grant from the University of Chile. It was directed by Dr. Abraham Stekel. The author is grateful to Fernando Pizarro, Silvia N ez, Patricia Chadud, Sandra Llaguno, Mirtha Provoste, and Jorge Olavarr a for their outstanding technical help and to Adriana Vargas for secretarial assistance.