EFFECT OF NATURAL FERMENTATION ON IN-VITRO ZINC BIOAVAILABILITY IN CEREAL-LEGUME MIXTURES

There is increasing concern about zinc availability from cereal-based vegetarian diets and the need to improve its native bioavailability. E ffects of natural fermentation on zinc availability were assessed by i n vitro assay with a Zn-65 extrinsic tag on four cereals (rice, wheat, sorghum and pearl millet), four decorticated legumes (red gram, benga l gram, green gram and black gram) and their 16 binary combinations. F ermentation significantly increased zinc solubility (2-28%) and zinc u ptake by intestinal segment (1-16%). Two-way ANOVA indicated significa nt effects of combinations on zinc solubility but not on zinc uptake i n both fermented and unfermented states. Levels of phytate-P were redu ced while titratable acid and ascorbic acid levels were increased by f ermentation. However, tannins were unchanged.