BIOACCESSIBILITY IN WHOLE WHEAT BREAD FORTIFIED WITH FERROUS FUMARATE

The objective of the study was to compare the influence of ferrous fumarate and microencapsulated ferrous fumarate used in the fortification of whole wheat flour in estimating the bioavailability of iron by in vitro assays (solubility and dialysis). In vitro assays simulate the gastrointestinal digestion process in the laboratory and have been shown to be efficient for estimating bioaccessibility. For the Fe quantification was used the technique of Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS). The method described by Rebellato et al (2015)1 was used for Fe determination. Breads with non-iron fortified (control) and fortified with ferrous fumarate (FF) and microencapsulated ferrous fumarate (FFm) were produced in a pilot plant using whole wheat flour. The Fe content in the control loaf was 1.86 mg/ 100 g. In the solubility and dialysis assays, the values for the same samples were 0.34 and 1.06 mg/ 100 g indicating 12 and 37% of solubility and dialysis, respectively. After fortification with FF and FFm, Fe contents in whole breads were 4.83 and 5.21 mg/ 100 g, respectively. The average concentrations of soluble Fe for whole bread samples fortified with FF and FFm were 1.07 and 0.82 mg/ 100 g, generating 22 and 15% solubility, respectively. The values of Fe dialysed for whole breads fortified with FF and FFm were 1.80 and 1.80 mg/ 100 g, indicating that 37 and 35% of iron could be absorbed in intestine, respectively. There was a positive effect of fortification of whole wheat flour with iron, which promoted a 70% increase in mineral availability for the added samples of FF and FFm, when compared to whole wheat bread. It was concluded that the FF fortified bread had a higher percentage of solubility and dialysis percentage was similar for the FFm bread fortified, after the simulation of the digestion process. The fortification of whole wheat flours with the iron compounds studied has proved to be an efficient strategy for the combat anemia which is one of the more important public health problems. Considering the higher cost of microencapsulated forms, it has been found that FF can be considered as suitable salt for the fortification of whole wheat flour, since a good percentage of the iron can be used by the organism.