Iron availability from iron-fortified spirulina by an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture model

Iron deficiency, one of the most important nutritional problems in the worl d, can,be caused not only by foods deficient in iron but also by poor avail ability of dietary iron. Iron food fortification in combination with highly available iron from supplements Could effectively reduce this deficiency. The aim of this study was to examine the iron availability from iron-fortif ied spirulina. We have used an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture syste m to measure iron spirulina availability and made a comparison with those o f beef, yeast, wheat floor, and iron sulfate plus ascorbic acid as a refere nce. Iron availability was assessed by ferritin formation in Caco-2 cells e xposed to digests containing the same amount of iron. Our results demonstra te a 27% higher ferritin formation from beef and spirulina digests than fro m digests of yeast and wheat flour. When iron availability was expressed pe r microgram of iron used in each digest, a 6.5-fold increase appeared using spirulina digest in comparison with meat. In view of this observed high ir on availability from spirulina, we conclude that spirulina could represent an adequate source of iron.