Abstract
Due to low Fe bioavailability and low consumption per meal, lentil must be fortified to contribute significant bioavailable Fe in the Bangladeshi diet. Moreover, since red lentil is dehulled prior to consumption, an opportunity exists at this point to fortify lentil with Fe. Thus, in the present study, lentil was Fe-fortified (using a fortificant Fe concentration of 2800 µg g−1) and used in 30 traditional Bangladeshi meals with broad differences in concentrations of iron, phytic acid (PA), and relative Fe bioavailability (RFeB%). Fortification with NaFeEDTA increased the iron concentration in lentil from 60 to 439 µg g−1 and resulted in a 79% increase in the amount of available Fe as estimated by Caco-2 cell ferritin formation. Phytic acid levels were reduced from 6.2 to 4.6 mg g−1 when fortified lentil was added, thereby reducing the PA:Fe molar ratio from 8.8 to 0.9. This effect was presumably due to dephytinization of fortified lentil during the fortification process. A significant (p ≤ 0.01) Pearson correlation was observed between Fe concentration and RFeB% and between RFeB% and PA:Fe molar ratio in meals with fortified lentil, but not for the meal with unfortified lentil. In conclusion, fortified lentil can contribute significant bioavailable Fe to populations at risk of Fe deficiency.
Highlights
Iron (Fe) deficiency is a public health problem and more than 30% of the world population is anaemic, mainly due to Fe deficiency [1]
Significant differences were observed for Fe concentration, RFeB%, and phytic acid (PA) concentration
Among the 11 meal models where unfortified lentil was used as a meal component, the highest Fe and PA concentrations were found in model 1, whereas the highest RFeB% was observed in model 2 (Figure 1)
Summary
Iron (Fe) deficiency is a public health problem and more than 30% of the world population (two billion) is anaemic, mainly due to Fe deficiency [1]. Fe deficiency is considered the major cause of anaemia, which mostly affects young children and pregnant and post-partum women [2]. In Bangladesh, anaemia is a public health concern and 40% of adolescents are anaemic [3]. One of the major causes of Fe deficiency is low bioavailability of dietary Fe, especially in developing countries such as Bangladesh where diets are mostly cerealand legume-based [5]. Lentil is consumed in both developed and developing countries around the world, and is a potential whole food source that can provide micronutrients such as Fe, zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se) [6]. Lentil is considered a staple food due to its nutritive value, especially as an Nutrients 2018, 10, 354; doi:10.3390/nu10030354 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients
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