EFFECT OF TRADITIONAL FOOD-PROCESSING ON PHYTATE DEGRADATION IN WHEATAND MILLETS

For cereal-based vegetarian meals, processing such as soaking cereal f lour prior to heating can activate native phytases. This activation wi ll result in improving the zinc bioavailability since degraded product s of phytate have a lower affinity for zinc. The effect of increasing the time for soaking wheat batter at 10 degrees C for 0-48 h and the e ffect of roti making with millet and sorghum flour batters was investi gated. Phytate (IP6) degradation was studied using ion-exchange chroma tography on a column of Dowex 1X8 resin (200-400 mesh). A soaking time of 12 h for wheat batter resulted in a 40% decrease in IP6. The decre asing trend for wheat with increased soaking time was significant (p < 0.01). Soaking also resulted in an increase of zinc solubility by 38. 5%. Degradation of IP6 due to roti making without soaking of batter fo r all three cereals was 14-19% with a marginal decrease in zinc solubi lity.