Good-Quality Cast Iron yields important health benefits. Iron-deficient diets are all too common these days and food or liquid cooked in cast iron ware provides significant traces of this essential mineral. Just as foods cooked in aluminum absorb some of the aluminum, foods cooked in cast iron absorb iron. For example, one 100-gram serving of spaghetti sauce prepared in cast iron cookware may contain 87.5 milligrams of iron compared to only 3 milligrams when cooked in a glass vessel. Since iron is essential for good health, cooking in cast iron can be an easy way to increase your daily intake of of iron.