Influence of dietary components on minerals and trace elements bioaccessible fraction in organic weaning food: a probabilistic assessment

Abstract

The Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ca and Mg contents as well as bioaccessible fractions of ten weaning foods characterized and commercialized with the attribute “organic” were analyzed in order to evaluate them nutritionally. The influence of several dietary components on minerals and trace elements bioaccessibility was also studied. It was observed a positive correlation (p < 0.05; r = 0.830) between protein content and Fe solubility for all samples analyzed with the exception of a jar. According with data supplied by manufacturer for this jar, the high solubility of Fe, despite the low protein content, could be due to the presence of vitamin C as ingredient. The influence of proteins was also observed in the dialysability of Zn (p < 0.01; r = 0.998) for the weaning food that incorporated meat or legumes (chickpeas) in their list of ingredients. On the other hand, the amount of Mn dialyzable was higher when a lower amount of fat was present in the jar formulation (p < 0.01; r = −0.781). Several interactions between trace elements were also observed, highlighting a positive soluble Cu–dialyzable Fe interaction (p < 0.01; r = 0.818). Trace elements concentration and bioaccessible values obtained were considerably lower than those reported for weaning food without the attribute organic. It has also developed estimation to the daily intake of these elements using a probabilistic approach. The contribution of Fe, Zn and Ca to the dietary reference intakes for jars studied was below 2.5 and 5 % considering soluble and total content values, respectively, for 50 % population.