The Nation - News from June 9, 1987

A form of dietary iron called iron II, usually found in meat, has been identified in fiber-rich soybean hulls, the Agriculture Department said. “Finding iron II in plant fiber is like walking through an auto junkyard and coming across a ’57 Chevy without any rust on it,” said Joseph A. Laslo, a biochemist at the department’s Northern Research Center, Peoria, Ill. Most iron in high-fiber plants is iron III, which combines with the plant fiber and is difficult for humans to absorb. But Laslo said that the iron II found in soybean hulls is easily absorbed.