| Popis: |
Iron deficiency anaemia is one of the most prevalent nutritional deficiency disorders in the world. Food iron fortification is a widely used strategy to reduce the risk of deficiency but presents a major challenge to the food industry. The more bioavailable forms of iron, such as ferrous gluconate, cause adverse organoleptic changes when added to foods. The primary aim of the work described in this thesis was to test whether alginate would bind soluble forms of iron and thereby maintain its bioavailability. Initial in vitro studies demonstrated that alginate solutions and beads loaded with ferrous gluconate delivered iron in an available form for uptake into Caco-2 cells (measured by ferritin formation). A human study was undertaken to assess the bioavailability of ferrous gluconate in alginate beads, and it was found to be significantly lower than ferrous gluconate on its own, so further in vitro studies were undertaken to examine possible reasons for the inhibitory effect of the beads. It was concluded that alginate beads, containing calcium as a gelling agent, are not an effective delivery vehicle for soluble iron compounds. However, these findings should not rule out the potential use of alginates as a delivery system for iron, especially in diets containing high levels of phytate. Other related work reported in this thesis includes studies of iron availability from two wheat cultivars with varying phytate and iron concentrations, potential use of nicotianamine and 2'- deoxymugineic acid as iron enhancers, and investigations into calcium-iron interactions in a Caco-2 cell model, with the use of live cell imaging techniques and confocal microscopy. |
