Iron deficiency is a nutritional problem globally. Iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of nutritional anemia. An alternative approach to food enrichment with iron that has possible applications is cooking using an iron pot. When food is cooked using an iron pot, the iron content in the diet increases. However, no information is available concerning the amount of iron eluted when cooking in irons pots used for different periods of time and the surface chemical state of these pots. In this study, we evaluated the amount of iron eluted when cooking using new and old iron pots, and the elemental composition and chemical state of the surface of a new iron pot by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. At first, the amount of iron eluted when cooking in an old iron pot was higher than in a new iron pot. However, the amount of iron eluted when cooking in a new iron pot was increased with increasing use of a new iron pot. Further studies are needed to resolve these contradictory results on the amount of iron eluted when cooking with iron pots for different periods of time. The surface composition of a new iron pot was predominantly iron oxides/hydroxides, and the white-colored area on the surface of an iron pot only contained the Fe metal and carbide.
