image_tag and send_data

i'm storing images in database.

i have this action in controller:

def image     begin       item = StoredItem.find(:first, :conditions => {:id => params[:id]})     rescue       return     end     return if item.nil?

    if item.image_binary.nil?       render :nothing => true     else       send_data(item.image_binary, :type => item.image_datatype, :disposition => 'inline') unless item.image_binary.nil?     end end

and i have this code in view:

<%items.each do |item|%> ... <%=image_tag(url_for(:action => :image, :id => item.id), :alt => item.name+' image', :size => '24x24')%> .. <%end>

everything works fine except that i have separate SELECT queries to database on EACH loading image.

in view i'm iterating collection of "items", so i have all neccessary data and i don't want to select it from database again. Is there any way to use "send_data" directly from image_tag or something similar?