Abstract
The co-fortification of wheat flour with iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) is a strategy used to prevent these deficiencies in the population. Given that Zn could interact negatively with Fe, the objective was to assess the effect of Zn on Fe absorption from bread prepared with wheat flour fortified with Fe and graded levels of Zn fortificant. Twelve women aged 30–43 years, with contraception and a negative pregnancy test, participated in the study. They received on four different days, after an overnight fast, 100 g of bread made with wheat flour (70 % extraction) fortified with 30 mg Fe/kg as ferrous sulfate (A) or prepared with the same Fe-fortified flour but with graded levels of Zn, as zinc sulfate: 30 mg/kg (B), 60 mg/kg (C), or 90 mg/kg (D). Fe radioisotopes (59Fe and 55Fe) of high specific activity were used as tracers and Fe absorption iron was measured by the incorporation of radioactive Fe into erythrocytes. Results: The geometric mean and range of ±1 SD of Fe absorption were: A = 19.8 % (10.5–37.2 %), B = 18.5 % (10.2–33.4 %), C = 17.7 % (7.7–38.7 %), and D = 11.2 % (6.2–20.3 %), respectively; ANOVA for repeated measures F = 5.14, p < 0.01 (Scheffè’s post hoc test: A vs D and B vs D, p < 0.05). We can conclude that Fe is well absorbed from low extraction flour fortified with 30 mg/kg of Fe, as ferrous sulfate, and up to 60 mg/kg of Zn, as Zn sulfate. A statistically significant reduction of Fe absorption was observed at a Zn fortification level of 90 mg Zn/kg.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Olivares M, Walter T, Hertrampf E, Pizarro F (1999) Anaemia and iron deficiency disease in children. Br Med Bull 55:534–543
International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group (IZiNCG) (2004) Technical document #1. Assessment of the risk of zinc deficiency in populations and options for its control. Food Nutr Bull 25(suppl 2):S94–204
Flour Fortification Initiative (2012) Country profiles. http://www.ffinetwork.org/country_profiles/index.php. Accessed 12 Sep 2012
Hurrell R, Ranum P, de Pee S, Biebinger R, Hulthen L, Johnson Q, Lynch S (2010) Revised recommendations for iron fortification of wheat flour and an evaluation of the expected impact of current national wheat flour fortification programs. Food Nutr Bull 31(Supp 1):S7–S21
Flour Fortification Initiative (2008) Second Technical Workshop on Wheat Flour Fortification: Practical Recommendations for National Application Summary Report, March 30 to April 3, 2008, Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA. Flour Fortification Initiative, Atlanta
WHO, FAO, UNICEF, GAIN, MI, FFI (2009). Recommendations on wheat and maize flour fortification. Meeting Report: Interim Consensus Statement. World Health Organization, Geneva. http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/micronutrients/wheat_maize_fort.pdf. Accessed 12 Sep 2012
Whittaker P (1998) Iron and zinc interactions in humans. Am J Clin Nutr 68:442S–446S
Olivares M, Pizarro F, Ruz M, de Romaña DL (2012) Acute inhibition of iron bioavailability by zinc: studies in humans. Biometals 25:657–664
Herman S, Griffin IJ, Suwarti S, Ernawati F, Permaesih D, Pambudi D, Abrams SA (2002) Cofortification of iron fortified flour with zinc sulfate, but not zinc oxide, decreases iron absorption in Indonesian children. Am J Clin Nutr 76:813–817
López de Romaña D, Salazar M, Hambidge KM, Penny ME, Peerson JM, Sian L, Krebs NF, Brown KH (2005) Iron absorption by Peruvian children consuming wheat products fortified with iron only or iron and one of two levels of zinc. Proceedings of FASEB Experimental Biology, San Diego, 2–6 April 2005 (Abstract 274.23)
Eakins JD, Brown DA (1966) An improved method for the simultaneous determination of iron-55 and iron-59 in blood by liquid scintillation counting. Int J Appl Radiact Isotopes 17:191–197
Nadler SB, Hidalgo JU, Bloch T (1962) Prediction of blood volume in normal human adults. Surgery 51:224–232
Bothwell TH, Finch CA (1962) Iron metabolism. Little Brown, Boston
Fischer DS, Price DC (1964) A simple serum iron method using the new sensitive chromogen tripyridyls-triazine. Clin Chem 10:21–31
International Anemia Consultative Group (1985) Measurement of iron status. A report of the International Anemia Consultative Group (INACG) Nutrition Foundation, Washington, DC
Hotz C, DeHaene J, Woodhouse LR, Villalpando S, Rivera JA, King JC (2005) Zinc absorption from zinc oxide, zinc sulfate, zinc oxide + EDTA, or sodium-zinc EDTA does not differ when added as fortificants to maize tortillas. J Nutr 135:1102–1105
López de Romaña D, Lönnerdal B, Brown KH (2003) Absorption of zinc from wheat products fortified with iron and either zinc sulfate or zinc oxide. Am J Clin Nutr 78:279–283
Olivares M, Pizarro F, Ruz M (2007) New insights about iron bioavailability inhibition by zinc. Nutrition 23:292–295
Olivares M, Pizarro F, Ruz M (2007) Zinc inhibits nonheme iron bioavailability in humans. Biol Trace Elem Res 117:7–14
Nävert B, Sandström B, Cederblad A (1985) Reduction of the phytate content of bran by leavening in bread and its effect on zinc absorption in man. Br J Nutr 53:47–53
Hurrell RF, Davidsson L, Reddy M, Kastenmayer P, Cook JD (1998) A comparison of iron absorption in adults and infants consuming identical infant formulas. Brit J Nutr 79:31–36
Peña G, Pizarro F, Hertrampf E (1991) Contribution of iron of bread to the Chilean diet. Rev Med Chile 119:753–757
Garrick MD, Singleton ST, Vargas F, Kuo HC, Zhao L, Knopfel M, Davidson T, Costa M, Paradkar P, Roth JA, Garrick LM (2006) DMT1: which metals does it transport? Biol Res 39:79–85
Kordas K, Stoltzfus RJ (2004) New evidence of iron and zinc interplay at the enterocyte and neural tissues. J Nutr 134:1295–1298
Iyengar V, Pullakhandam R, Nair KM (2009) Iron-zinc interaction during uptake in human intestinal Caco-2 cell line: kinetic analyses and possible mechanism. Indian J Biochem Biophys 46:299–306
Brune M, Rossander-Hultén L, Hallberg L, Gleerup A, Sandberg AS (1992) Iron absorption from bread in humans: inhibiting effects of cereal fiber, phytate and inositol phosphates with different numbers of phosphate groups. J Nutr 122:442–449
Acknowledgments
The study was supported by grant 1100094 from Fondo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Chile. The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the women who participated in the study and to Ms. Angelica Letelier for her technical assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Olivares, M., Pizarro, F. & López de Romaña, D. Effect of Zinc Sulfate Fortificant on Iron Absorption from Low Extraction Wheat Flour Co-Fortified with Ferrous Sulfate. Biol Trace Elem Res 151, 471–475 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-012-9582-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-012-9582-7