Assessment of Iron Bioavailability in Lentils: Identifying Commercial Harvests with High Fe Bioavailability

Abstract

Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency in the world, a major cause of which is a lack of highly bioavailable dietary iron. Lentils (Lens culinaris) are a pulse crop consumed as a staple food world‐wide, and are higher in iron compared to other staple foods. We screened 28 commercial lentil lines already in use by growers in Saskatchewan, Canada for Fe concentration and relative Fe bioavailability using the in vitro digestion/Caco‐2 cell model. Fe concentration of the lentils ranged from 53.4 – 96.7 ppm Fe with 4 lines having greater than 85 ppm Fe. This indicates that some harvests are essentially biofortified, as values above 85 ppm are considered high in Fe. There were significant differences in relative Fe bioavailability among the 28 commercial lines as measured by the in vitro model. Dehulling the lentils, a practice most common for red lentils, significantly increases the Fe bioavailability. Iron concentration and Fe bioavailability were not correlated in this sample (r=−0.27, p=0.16). These results will be confirmed in vivo using a poultry model. The differences in Fe concentration and relative bioavailability appear to be genetically linked. As Canadian lentils are often exported to regions where Fe deficiency is high, this work represents a unique opportunity to conduct Fe biofortification using the tools of modern agriculture.