BIOAVAILABILITY TO RATS OF IRON FROM FORTIFIED GRAIN AMARANTH

In this study, fortified and unfortified grain amaranth seed flour die ts and a FeSO4-fortified casein diet (used as a control) were evaluate d for their iron (Fe) bioavailability. NaFeEDTA, ferrous fumarate, and FeSO4-fortified grain amaranth were fed to growing Sprague-Dawley wea ning male rats. Iron intake, hemoglobin iron (HbFe) gain, Fe availabil ity, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), serum iron, non-haem liver ir on and red bloodcell volume (RBV) were determined, and the values were compared with those of the FeSO4-fortified casein diet control. Ferro us fumarate fortified diets gave consistently high values for all thes e parameters, compared with consistently low values for the amaranth d iet without iron fortification. Relative biological values (RBVs) were 0.40, 1.55, 1.75, 1.67 and 1.00 for animals fed on an unfortified ama ranth diet, and diets fortified with NaFeEDTA. ferrous fumarate, FeSO4 and casein fortified with FeSO4, respectively. Using FeSO4-fortified casein as control, ferrous fumarate gave a superior RBVs (1.75 vs. 1.0 0). The RBVs. of the unfortified cereal diets were 40% that of the con trol, perhaps suggesting low iron absorption from the amaranth cereal. Based on the results of this study, amaranth cereal can be considered an ideal food vehicle for iron fortification. The iron fortification of choice is ferrous fumarate.