EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Iron is an essential element for blood production. About 70 percent of your body’s iron is found in the red blood cells of your blood called hemoglobin and in muscle cells called myoglobin. Hemoglobin is essential for transferring oxygen in your blood from the lungs to the tissues.

Detailed explanation-2: -Dietary iron occurs in two forms: heme and nonheme. The primary sources of heme iron are hemoglobin and myoglobin from consumption of meat, poultry, and fish.

Detailed explanation-3: -Iron is considered an essential mineral because it is needed to make hemoglobin, a part of blood cells.

Detailed explanation-4: -Hemoglobin undergoes spontaneous oxidation from the ferrous (Fe2+) to the ferric (Fe3+) states in the presence of air equilibrated aqueous buffer and produces superoxide anions (O2·) [2].

Detailed explanation-5: -The hemoglobin molecule contains four separate folded peptide chains, which form a hydrophobic or water ‘repelling’ pocket around a heme group. The heme group is composed of a central iron atom complexed to four nitrogen atoms.