BIOAVAILABILITY IN INFANTS OF IRON FROM INFANT CEREALS - EFFECT OF DEPHYTINIZATION

Iron bioavailability from an infant cereal made of wheat flour with a low extraction rate (70%) and cow milk was measured in infants by usin g a stable-isotope technique. A dephytinized infant cereal was prepare d by adding commercial phytase during manufacture, resulting in degrad ation of 88% of the native phytic acid. Paired comparisons were made t o evaluate the effect of phytic acid on iron bioavailability. Both inf ant cereals contained identical amounts of ascorbic acid and had a mol ar ratio of ascorbic acid to iron of 2:1. Iron was added as ferrous su lfate. No difference in iron bioavailability was observed in this stud y; the geometric mean was 8.7% (range: 3.8-16.9%) and 8.5% (range: 3.4 -21.4%) from the cereal with native phytic acid (0.08% phytic acid) an d the dephytinized cereal (0.01% phytic acid), respectively. Dephytini zation of infant cereals containing a relatively low native phytic aci d content and high amounts of ascorbic acid is thus unnecessary to ens ure adequate bioavailability of iron.