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Community and International Nutrition

The Addition of Milk or Yogurt to a Plant-Based Diet Increases Zinc Bioavailability but Does Not Affect Iron Bioavailability in Women¹

Jorge L. Rosado², Margarita Díaz^*, Karla González, Ian Griffin, Steven A. Abrams and Roxana Preciado

Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Querétaro, México; ^* Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubirán, México, D.F.; and USDA/ARS Children Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jlrosado{at}avantel.net.

The addition of milk and milk-based products to the diets of individuals subsisting on plant-based diets was reported to have positive effects on nutritional status and functional outcomes such as growth, morbidity, and cognition. We examined the effect of the addition of milk or yogurt on the bioavailability of zinc and iron from a plant-based rural diet. The subjects were 48 Mexican women (30.9 ± 5.7 y) who habitually consumed a plant-based diet. The women were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 1) the typical rural Mexican diet, 2) that diet with milk added, or 3) that diet with yogurt for 13 d. Zinc absorption was measured after extrinsically labeling meals with ⁶⁷Zn and an i.v. dose of ⁷⁰Zn; iron absorption was measured by extrinsically labeling meals with ⁵⁸Fe and a reference oral dose of ⁵⁷Fe. Including milk and yogurt in the diet increased zinc absorption by 50 and 68%, respectively (P < 0.05). The 3 groups did not differ in the percentage iron absorption. The total amount of zinc absorbed was increased (P < 0.05) by 70% when milk was added to the meal and 78% when yogurt was added. The total amount of iron absorbed did not differ among the groups. The addition of milk and yogurt to a plant-based diet high in phytate increases zinc bioavailability without affecting iron bioavailability.

KEY WORDS: • nutrient bioavailability • zinc absorption • iron absorption • Mexican diets • stable isotopes