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Nutrient Requirements

Iron Bioavailability and Utilization in Rats Are Lower from Lime-Treated Corn Flour than from Wheat Flour When They Are Fortified with Different Sources of Iron¹

Miguel Hernández^*,, Virginia Sousa^*, Ámbar Moreno, Salvador Villapando^** and Mardya López-Alarcón²

^* Unidad de Investigación Médica en Nutrición. Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Mexico City; Coordinación de Investigación y Escuela de Ciencias Químicas de la Universidad La Salle, Mexico City; ^** Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Mexico

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marsau2{at}prodigy.net.mx.

Although iron bioavailability from wheat flour fortified with iron has been widely studied, the bioavailability of lime-treated corn flour has not been evaluated sufficiently. We compared iron bioavailability and utilization of lime-treated corn flour and wheat flour supplemented with various iron sources. Bioavailability and utilization were determined in Sprague-Dawley rats using the iron balance and hemoglobin depletion-repletion methods. Rats were iron depleted by feeding them a low iron, casein diet for 10 d. During the repletion period, the rats were fed diets based on lime-treated corn flour or wheat flour, both supplemented with ferrous fumarate, ferrous sulfate, ferric citrate and reduced iron for 14 d. Hemoglobin was determined at the end of depletion and repletion periods. The phytate concentration was lower in wheat flour (114 mg/100g) than in lime-treated corn flour (501 mg/100g). Iron bioavailability and utilization by rats were higher from fortified and unfortified wheat flour than from the lime-treated corn flour counterparts. Iron utilization was greater in rats fed wheat flour supplemented with ferrous sulfate, followed by fumarate and citrate than in rats fed reduced iron. In lime-treated corn flour, iron utilization by rats fed unfortified flour and flour fortified with reduced iron did not differ, but utilization was higher in rats fed corn flour fortified with iron sulfate, fumarate and citrate than with reduced iron. We conclude that fortification of lime-treated corn flour with reduced iron has no effect on iron bioavailability or utilization, probably due to the high phytate content. Other iron compounds must be selected to fortify lime-treated corn flour when intended for public nutrition programs.

KEY WORDS: • lime-treated corn flour • wheat flour • iron utilization • iron bioavailability • rats

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