Iron and Zinc Bioaccessibility from Sprouted, Malted and Fermented Grains as Influenced by Disodium EDTA

In view of the widespread prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies, there is a need to evolve food-based strategies to enhance their bioavailability from predominantly vegetarian diets. Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic acid (EDTA), a known metal chelator, has been previously found to enhance the bioaccessibility of iron and zinc from fortified millet flours. The present investigation was undertaken to examine the effect of EDTA on the bioaccessibility of iron and zinc from germinated, fermented and malted food grains. EDTA was added to the processed foods at molar ratios of 1:1, 1:1.5 and 1:2, relative to inherent iron and zinc content. EDTA significantly enhanced the bioaccessibility of iron from all the processed foods examined, this beneficial effect being highly significant in the germinated and malted grains and significantly higher than the effect of the processing method per se. In the fermented foods, the effect of EDTA was to a lesser extent, except in the case of dhokla, where it was significant. EDTA significantly increased the bioaccessibility of zinc from malted grains, but this increase was only marginal in germinated and fermented grains. Germinated and fermented foods are a common part of Indian diets and are widely consumed, while malted grains find use in the preparation of weaning and geriatric foods. The results of this investigation have shown that EDTA could be used as an enhancer of bioaccessibility of iron and zinc from such traditionally processed foods. This strategy could also be adopted at the household level to improve mineral bioavailability from foods.