Iron Bioavailability from Infant Cereals Containing Whole Grains and Pulses: A Stable Isotope Study in Malawian Children
Uyoga MA, Mzembe G, Stoffel NU, Moretti D, Zeder C, Phiri K, Sabatier M, Hays NP, Zimmermann MB, Mwangi MN
The Journal of nutrition · 8 citations
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How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
- Intake measured by
- Food provided by researchers
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- University or hospital
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Based on 1 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2021-12-23 · J Nutr · vol. 152 · issue 3 · pp. 826–834
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Cited
- 10 citations · more than 65% of similar papers · 0.5× the field average
- References
- 58 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY-NC
- Research areas
- Iron Metabolism and Disorders · Trace Elements in Health · Folate and B Vitamins Research
- Keywords
- Bioavailability, Wheat flour, Ascorbic acid, Food science, Meal, Whole wheat, Crossover study, Chemistry, Citric acid, Ferrous sulphate, Ferrous, Animal science, Biology, Medicine
- MeSH
- humans, triticum, iron, ferrous compounds, isotopes, ascorbic acid, prospective studies, cross-over studies, biological availability, flour, food, fortified, child, infant, edible grain, whole grains
10 authors
From CH, MW
- Mary A Uyoga · correspondingETH Zurich; Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health
- Glory MzembeUniversity of Malawi; Blantyre Institute for Community Ophthalmology
- Nicole Ursula StoffelETH Zurich; Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health
- Diego MorettiETH Zurich; Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences; Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health
- Christophe ZederETH Zurich; Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health
- Kamija Samuel PhiriUniversity of Malawi; Blantyre Institute for Community Ophthalmology
Abstract
Background
Compared with infant cereals based on refined grains, an infant cereal containing whole grains (WGs) and pulses with adequate amounts of ascorbic acid to protect against absorption inhibitors could be a healthier source of well-absorbed iron. However, iron absorption from such cereals is uncertain.
Objective
We measured iron bioavailability from ferrous fumarate (Fefum) added to commercial infant cereals containing 1) refined wheat flour (reference meal), 2) WG wheat and lentil flour (WG-wheat-lentil), 3) WG wheat and chickpea flour (WG-wheat-chickpeas), and 4) WG oat flour (WG-oat) and from ferrous bisglycinate (FeBG) added to the same oat-based cereal (WG-oat-FeBG).
Methods
In a prospective, single-blinded randomized crossover study, 6- to 14-mo-old Malawian children (n = 30) consumed 25-g servings of all 5 test meals containing 2.25 mg stable isotope-labeled iron and 13.5 mg ascorbic acid. Fractional iron absorption (FIA) was assessed by erythrocyte incorporation of isotopes after 14 d. Comparisons were made using linear mixed models.
Results
Seventy percent of the children were anemic and 67% were iron deficient. Geometric mean FIA percentages (-SD, +SD) from the cereals were as follows: 1) refined wheat, 12.1 (4.8, 30.6); 2) WG-wheat-lentil, 15.8 (6.6, 37.6); 3) WG-wheat-chickpeas, 12.8 (5.5, 29.8); and 4) WG-oat, 9.2 (3.9, 21.5) and 7.4 (2.9, 18.9) from WG-oat-FeBG. Meal predicted FIA (P ≤ 0.001), whereas in pairwise comparisons, only WG-oat-FeBG was significantly different compared with the refined wheat meal (P = 0.02). In addition, FIAs from WG-wheat-lentil and WG-wheat-chickpeas were significantly higher than from WG-oat (P = 0.002 and P = 0.04, respectively) and WG-oat-FeBG (P < 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively).
Conclusion
In Malawian children, when given with ascorbic acid at a molar ratio of 2:1, iron bioavailability from Fefum-fortified infant cereals containing WG wheat and pulses is ≈13-15%, whereas that from FeBG- and Fefum-fortified infant cereals based on WG oats is ≈7-9%.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC).
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