2003/09/01 by Bob Seibels, Nadine Lamberski, Christopher R. Gregory +2 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Nursing · #Animal Nutrition and Physiology #Trace Elements in Health
paper · doi:10.1638/02-088
openalex publication_date 2003/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/19
Wild-caught starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were fed an iron-enriched diet, with or without supplemental black tea leaves, to determine whether tea-derived tannins would prevent intestinal iron absorption. Hepatic biopsies were obtained to determine hepatic iron concentrations by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Hepatic iron concentrations increased significantly (P = 0.04) in 21 birds that consumed only the iron-enriched diet for 6 mo but not in the 20 birds that consumed the iron-enriched diet with tea leaf supplementation for the same time period.