The Copper, Iron, and Manganese Content of Fish

Abstract

r~I ^HE nutritional value of copper and manganese has recently at_L tracted the attention of investigators. Hart and co-workers (1) were first to show the supplementing effect of copper to iron in hemoglobin formation. Later Titus, Cave, and Hughes (2), Goerner (3), and Myers and Beard (4) found manganese to possess a similar iron-supplementing property. Although the unique rôleof manganese in blood regeneration was not confirmed by Waddell and co-workers (5), Krause (6), Keil and Nelson (7), and Orent and McCollum (8), the experimental evidence, ob tained by Mitchell and Miller (9), and Kemmer, Elvehjem, and Hart (10) indicates that manganese stimulates growth, and according to Orent and McCollum (8) manganese is essential for lactation and for the prevention of sterility. The bearing of these investigations on practical nutrition has aroused an interest in the iron, copper, and manganese content of foods. Although valuable information as to the quantities of these elements contained in a wide variety of foods has been secured by Lindow, Elvehjem, and Peterson (11), Peterson and Elvehjem (12), Lindow and Peterson (13), Remington and Shiver (14), and Orent and McCollum (8), additional data on certain foods are still desirable. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to report our results on the content of copper, iron, and manganese in twenty species of fish.