MINERALS IN BIOFORTIFIED WHEAT BRAN CEREAL

Food biofortification has been used as a tool for combating micronutrients deficiency, as iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn). The wheat, which is a cereal widely consumed around the world, presents positive response to this technique, as well as its bran, that has an important nutritional value, but it is not much used in the food industry. Thus, the aim of this study was to quantify the Fe and Zn contents in biofortified wheat bran cereal. For development of the cereal was used whole wheat flour, wheat bran, brown sugar, water, olive oil, egg and cinnamon powder. The ingredients were homogenized, the dough was rolled out with a rolling pin until it reached approximately 1 mm of thickness, and then, it was baked in electric oven at 150 °C for 15 minutes. The mineral content in the wheat bran and cereal samples was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The Fe content in wheat bran increased from 21.69 mg 100g-¹ in control sample to 30.22 mg 100g-¹ in the biofortified sample. Regarding to cereal samples, the Fe content ranged from 12.81 mg 100g-¹ to 17.30 mg 100g-¹. In relation to Zn, its content in the wheat bran ranged from 13.02 mg 100g-¹ in control sample to 14.11 mg 100g-¹ in biofortified sample, while in cereal samples, the Zn content increased from 5.99 mg 100g-¹ to 6.92 mg 100g-¹. Therefore, it was observed that wheat grain biofortification increased the Fe and Zn content in wheat bran, and when it was used as cereal ingredient, it provided an increase of 35.05 % of Fe and 13.44 % of Zn in this cereal. In conclusion, the cereal made of biofortified wheat bran results in a great potential for reducing the micronutrients deficiency.