Vitamin A and -Carotene Can Improve Nonheme Iron Absorption from Rice, Wheat and Corn by Humans

Manuscript received 4 June 1997. Initial reviews completed 3 July 1997. Revision accepted 12 November 1997.

María Nieves García-Casal^*, Miguel Layrisse^{*, ,} , Liseti Solano, María Adela Barón, Franklin Arguello, Daisy Llovera, José Ramírez^*, Irene Leets^*, and Eleonora Tropper^*

^* Centro de Medicina Experimental, Laboratorio de Fisiopatología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1020A, Venezuela;  Unidad de Investigaciones en Nutrición, Universidad de Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela; and  Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

After the rapid decrease in the prevalence of iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia in the Venezuelan population when a national program for fortification of flours with iron and vitamins was instituted, we studied micronutrient interactions in Venezuelan diets. One hundred human adults were fed three cereal-based diets, labelled with either ⁵⁹Fe or ⁵⁵Fe in six studies. Each diet contained different concentrations of vitamin A (from 0.37 to 2.78 µmol/100 g cereal) or -carotene (from 0.58 to 2.06 µmol/100 g cereal). The presence of vitamin A increased iron absorption up to twofold for rice, 0.8-fold for wheat and 1.4-fold for corn. -carotene increased absorption more than threefold for rice and 1.8-fold for wheat and corn, suggesting that both compounds prevented the inhibitory effect of phytates on iron absorption. Increasing the doses of vitamin A or -carotene did not further significantly increase iron absorption. We measured the iron remaining in solution performing in vitro studies in which the pH of solutions was adjusted from 2 to 6 in the presence of vitamin A or -carotene. All of the iron from ferrous fumarate was soluble after changing the pH of the solution containing 3.4 µmol of -carotene to 6.0. Vitamin A was less effective. However, 78 ± 18% of iron was soluble in the presence of 3.3 µmol of vitamin A, whereas with no vitamin addition, only 26 ± 13% of iron was soluble (<0.05). Vitamin A and -carotene may form a complex with iron, keeping it soluble in the intestinal lumen and preventing the inhibitory effect of phytates and polyphenols on iron absorption.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 3 March 1998, pp. 646-650
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

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