Iron In Cereal

I'm not sure if this is the proper forum for this post, but I can't think of a better spot for it.

When I was in high school I took a course that was essentially a Science Olympiad class for those of us on the team. The instructor, who was also a physics and chemistry teacher, did this demonstration one day that has stuck in my mind ever since.

Basically what he did was took a considerable amount of water and corn flakes, got them soggy, and then blended them up. Then he put them in a beaker and ran a magnet around underneath the glass container before pouring the cereal and water out. What was left was a surprise to everyone - a small glob of little bits of iron!

I still am not sure if this form of iron is actually healthy to consume. Anyone know?

Anyway...sort of a weird thing to see after assuming that iron was actually part of the grain itself or something like that. Makes ya wonder what other corner cutting goes on with stuff like that.

Here's a couple videos that accomplish the same result through a little different process.

Next time you are in the grocery store or if you have a box of cereal at your house look at the ingredients. You should see iron, zinc, and some other things in there.

It's all part of our natural diet. Nothing to be concerned about, as long as you don't eat too much of it.

I understand your point, Hastobemoretolife. But human beings have iron in them too, and I don't think you'd be able to pull out little chunks of it if you were to liquefy a person and sift through the syrup with a magnet. Well you might be able to if they just ate some cereal!

Seriously though, it seems like when the nutrition facts say the contents contain iron, zinc, etc., that that would mean it's in a form that comes with the food, not as a pinch of raw metal.

reply to post by John_Q_Llama


Ok I understand what you are saying now, our body breaks it down itself. They don't actually add it in chucks. I'd imagine it forms chunks when they process it into "corn flakes".

Although I don't know you'd have to ask a doctor if they were to liquefy a human if chunks of iron would come out.

Interesting thought.

They add the iron from what I know. One negative thing about iron is that it oxidizes in the body, causing free radicals. So too much and you're putting oxidative stress on your body, cancer, faster aging ect.

Seriously though, it seems like when the nutrition facts say the contents contain iron, zinc, etc., that that would mean it's in a form that comes with the food, not as a pinch of raw metal.

It is a deception of sorts. When a processed food has all these wonderful nutrients that you think are there naturally, then you read that they were added. It gives the food, a lot of the times cereal, a false sense that it is healthy. All it is is carbohydrates with a multivitamin shoved in, so nothing really healthy about it. Most cereal is garbage for health.

The only difference between natural nutrients and man made ones are bioavaliblity really. Some really can't be absorbed by the body that well. Others its about the same. Personally, it seems that its more important to eat a diet full of fruits and veggies and NOT worrying about getting all your nutrients than not eating well and taking a multivitamin "just to make sure". Seems we've been learning that some of these nutrients in high levels can actually cause disease.

In one study with milk consumption, it showed that men have a higher risk for prostate cancer. But the scientists didn't think it was milk exactly, just the high levels of calcium.

Vitamin E for awhile was said to increase cancer...not sure where the scientific opinion is on that one now.

The new culprits for Alzhiemers I read awhile ago were I think Iron and zinc.. sorta interesting. There are a bunch of others it seems, and a lot of conflicting data.

[edit on 6-6-2009 by ghaleon12]

Iron in your diet is a good thing of course, like with all things, to much isn't good for you. I imagine it would be hard to eat enough food to actually give you iron poisoning though.

Break down any food and you will find some amount of iron.

I am iron deficient, I take prescription iron pills every day. I never eat cereal, but if i did, is this the type of iron that would absorb and be good for me???

[edit on 6-6-2009 by space cadet]

Umm, Iron is in most foods... This should hardly be shocking or even mildly alarming.

Have you never bothered to look at the ingredients on a food label before in your life?

Iron is an essential element needed by your body. Without it you would die.

Do some research on how iron is used to carry oxygen around the body in the form of haemoglobin. Also how iron is absorbed from the food we eat and stored in the form of ferritin in your bone marrow, spleen and liver.

Your body only absorbs the iron it needs (about 1ug per 10ug ingested). The rest is put to waste.

[edit on 6/6/09 by logicalview]

Some multivitamins dont even have iron in them, since like I mentioned, it produces free radicals in the body which can lead to heart disease. Heart disease being a big killer for both men and women, so iron isn't added. I'd say it would be pretty abnormal to be low on iron no matter what sort of diet you eat, you dont need very much and your body recycles the iron it already has.

Originally posted by Capt. Charisma
Umm, Iron is in most foods... This should hardly be shocking or even mildly alarming.

Have you never bothered to look at the ingredients on a food label before in your life?

Yes, I look at the labels. But I thought it seemed rather odd that the iron is in the form shown, almost as if someone just took a pinch of iron bits or filings and dropped them into the flakes during production. I explained that in a previous post, but maybe you didn't read that part of the thread.

So apparently if I were to nibble on a bar of iron every day, that would be as beneficial as eating food with iron on the label? Perhaps that is the case, but I imagine most people wouldn't be aware that that is true. When I see iron on a label, I assume I'm going to be consuming something that is part of the product, not some raw additive, which could have been filed off of a slab of iron, that is tossed in to satisfy nutritional requirements. That's why I mentioned iron in the human body, and the way it is present on molecular level. Maybe my thoughts on this whole thing don't make sense or I'm explaining it in a way that isn't clear.

I'm not gonna lie, that was pretty sick. I don't know if I'm ever going to eat fortified cereals again. I may buy one to do this experiment though.

I think some of the earlier posters missed the point of the experiments. N one was denying that iron is part of a healthy diet and that our body needs it. The issue is the products that have iron added to them. The experiments showed that the added iron is not of the biological kind that we would find in meat, which is the main source of iron. [As far as I know the only plants that have iron are some beans.] But iron filings.

If you think this is okay though, I'll treat you to a nice candle light car frame dinner!