• Manganese absorption from human milk, cow's milk, and infant formulas was studied in humans by using extrinsic labeling of the diets with manganese 54 or manganese 52 and whole-body retention measurements. The fractional manganese absorption from human milk (8.2%±2.9%) was significantly different when compared with cow's milk (2.4%±1.7%), soy formula (0.7%±0.2%), and whey-preponderant cow's milk formula with 12 mg/L of iron (1.7%±1.0%) and without iron fortification (2 mg/L of iron) (3.1%±2.8%), while no significant difference was observed between a whey-preponderant cow's milk formula with 7 mg/L of iron (5.9%±4.8%) and human milk. The total amount of absorbed manganese was significantly higher from the non—iron-fortified cow's milk formula (2 mg/L of iron) as compared with human milk, while no significant differences were observed for the other milks and formulas.
(AJDC. 1989;143:823-827)