75 FORTIFICATION ON BISCUITS WITH HEME-IRON. SENSORY EVALUATION AND IRON BIOAVAILABILITY

Abstract

School age children in Chile receive 30g of biscuits each day through a national food supplementation program. Wheat flour biscuits were fortified with 4,6 and 8% of a hemoglobin concentrate obtained from cattle blood. The 4% and 6% fortified biscuits were considered acceptable for consumption and did not show unfavorable changes after storage for 6 months at room temperature or 40°C. Bioavailability of the heme-iron was studied isotopically in 15 children preparing biscuits with radioactive hemoglobin obtained from a ⁵⁵Fe-injected calf. Each child received 30g of biscuits containing 5.5mg of heme-iron and 2.1 uCi of ⁵⁵Fe on day 1 and a solution of ferrous ascorbate (2mg iron, 0.7 uCi ⁵⁹Fe) on day 2. Absorption was calculated from the circulating radioactivity on day 15 according to Eakins and Erown. Geometric mean absorption of the fortification iron was 19.7% with a heme-iron/ferrous ascorbate absorption ratio of 0.65. Fortification of biscuits with hemoglobin appears as a promising way of providing children with bioavailable iron.