Isotope-aided studies of the bioavailability of iron and zinc from human diets consumed in Chile and Ecuador

Abstract:

Currently it is accepted that iron absorbed from infant formulas is less than 10%. However, the composition of such formulas has changed considerably and there is no recent information on the effects of these modifications. Iron bioavailability from infant formulas with different levels of iron fortification (8 and 12 mg of iron/L) and from a standard meal based on a wheat cream (" farina" flour) was measured by a double radioisotopic technique lEakins & Brown) in 13 adult female volunteers. Iron bioavailability in infant formulas was very high. Eighteen and 20.6 percent of the iron was absorbed in the 8 and 12 mg iron/L fortified formulas respectively (geometric means corrected to 40% of reference dose absorption). The corresponding value for iron absorption from the standard meal was 6.7%. These high and non significant differences in iron bioavailability from the two formulas and the fact that daily consumption of 750 ml of formula supplies more iron than recommended would permit a lowering of the current iron fortification level of 12 mg/L. Iron availability of the Standard Meal measured with FLAIR modifications of Miller's in vitro technique was 4.42%. The percentage of dialyzable zinc was 2.04%. Research activities for next year will be based on the validation and application of the in vitro technique in Chilean and Ecuadorian foods.

Año de publicación:

1994

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Fuente:

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