Foreword

Abstract

Bioavailability is key to the effectiveness of functional foods. Among functional food components minerals have a key function in their essential role for a healthy life. Deficiencies in essential minerals are seen as a major nutritional problem in the world today. This review investigates the impact of food processing on the bioavailability of minerals. The findings of the last decade clearly show that there is no simple relation between food processing and bioavailability. Processing can have a positive impact through separation or partitioning of minerals (enrichment), or through the destruction of inhibitors or, the beneficial complex formation between food components and metal ions, thereby enhancing their availability. However, the impact can also be negative by deactivating enzymes that degrade inhibitors or by generating insoluble metal compounds (e.g. oxidation, precipitation). Potential for the modulation of bioavailability will arise when the speciation of metal ions and their fate in processing and in the body are better understood.