Quality Assessment of Cumin and Inulin Fortified Bakery Products and it’s <i>In Vitro</i> Iron Bioavailability

Abstract

Anemia is a worldwide deficiency that affects women and children. It can be overcome by adding iron in the diet by food fortification. The objective of the study was to improve iron bioavailability in bakery products by adding cumin and inulin. The physicochemical, nutritional and iron bioavailability properties of cumin and inulin fortified bakery products like breads, muffins, cookies and rusk were determined. The ash content analysis of cumin fortified bread was found to have higher mineral content in comparison to the other fortified bakery products. Among all the bakery products cumin fortification with inulin containing bread was found to have second higher iron bioavailability (0.7±0.004 mg/100 g). In the fortified bakery products, bread fortified with cumin and inulin was found to be better than the reference bread. Still in comparison to the reference bread fortified bread, organoleptic was found to be better. Therefore considering the iron bioavailability and relative overall acceptability, cumin fortified bread may be considered as one of the alternative for iron fortified products for preventing the iron deficiency anemia.