Study of industrial microencapsulated ferrous sulfate by means of the prophylactic-preventive method to determine its bioavailability

• Published in: Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 125 - 129
• Main Authors: Lysionek, A.E. (University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)), Zubillaga, M.B, Salgueiro, M.J, Sarabia, M.I, Caro, R.A, Weill, R, Boccio, J.R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Center for Academic Publications Japan 2000
• Subjects: Animals; BIOAVAILABILITY; BIODISPONIBILIDAD; BIODISPONIBILITE; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Availability; COMPLEMENTATION; Drug Compounding; ENRIQUECIMIENTO DE LOS ALIMENTOS; Feeding. Feeding behavior; FER; Ferrous Compounds - administration & dosage; Ferrous Compounds - pharmacokinetics; FERROUS SULPHATE; FOOD ENRICHMENT; food fortification; Food industries; Food, Fortified; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HIERRO; Intestinal Absorption; IRON; Iron - administration & dosage; Iron - metabolism; Liver - chemistry; Liver - metabolism; Male; MICROENCAPSULACION; MICROENCAPSULATION; Phospholipids; prophylactic-preventive method; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reference Standards; Research and development. New food products, dietetic foods and beverages; SULFATE FERREUX; SULFATO FERROSO; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Industrial production; Methodology; Iron sulfate; Rat; Rodentia; Bioavailability; Fortified product; Feeding; Prevention; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Investigation method; Diet; Animal; Microencapsulation
• ISSN: 0301-4800; 1881-7742
• DOI: 10.3177/jnsv.46.125

Radio-iron tests are frequently used to measure the bioavailability of different iron sources for food fortification. As the labeling procedures must be done under laboratory conditions, complementary studies should be carried out to evaluate the bioavailability of iron sources produced on an industrial scale. The iron bioavailability of SFE-171 (ferrous sulfate microencapsulated with phospholipids) was studied in previous reports using the compounds labeled with 59Fe and 55Fe; the results showed an iron bioavailability similar to that of ferrous sulfate. In the present work, the iron bioavailability of industrial SFE-171 was studied by the prophylactic-preventive method in rats using ferrous sulfate as the refer-ence standard. Elemental iron powder was also studied by the same method for comparative purposes. The liver iron concentration of each animal was determined at the end of the experiment in order to evaluate the influence of each iron source on the liver iron stores. Relative biological values of 98 and 34% were found for SFE-171 and elemental iron pow-der, respectively, while the corresponding relative liver iron concentrations were 104 and 45%. The results provided by the prophylactic-preventive method show that the iron bioavail-ability of industrial SFE-171 is similar to that of ferrous sulfate; these results are also in agreement to those obtained with the radioactive compounds. We can conclude that the SFE-171 obtained by industrial procedures for massive use in iron food fortification has the same bioavailability as that of the SFE-171 produced and labeled under laboratory conditions.