Background: Fortification of milk formulas with iron is a strategy widely used, but the absorption of non-heme iron is low. The purpose of this study was to measure the bioavailability of two iron fortified milk formulas designed to cover toddlers’ nutritional needs. These milks were fortified with iron sulfate stabilized with maltodextrin and citric acid. Methods: 15 women (33–47 years old) participated in study. They received on different days, after an overnight fast, 200 mL of Formula A; 200 mL of Formula B; 30 mL of a solution of iron and ascorbic acid as reference dose and 200 mL of full fat cow’s milk fortified with iron as ferrous sulfate. Milk formulas and reference dose were labeled with radioisotopes 59Fe or 55Fe, and the absorption of iron measured by erythrocyte incorporation of radioactive Fe. Results: The geometric mean iron absorption corrected to 40% of the reference dose was 20.6% for Formula A and 20.7% for Formula B, versus 7.5% of iron fortified cow’s milk (p < 0.001). The post hoc Sheffé indeed differences between the milk formulas and the cow’s milk (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Formulas A and B contain highly bioavailable iron, which contributes to covering toddlers’ requirements of this micronutrient.
The aim of this work was to determine the effects of a new mineral mix combined with a prebiotic on growth, mineral deposit and intestinal microflora using a milk-like vehicle. This study was performed with Sprague Dawley female rats separated into 7 groups. Group 1 was fed with a deficient diet on its mineral content, group 2, 3 and 4 were fed with normal diets on their mineral content during 28 days but group 2 was fed with a diet containing reference Ca, Fe and Zn sources and groups 3 and 4 with diets containing other Ca, Fe and Zn sources that were evaluated. Group 4 received additionally a diet containing a prebiotic. Groups 5, 6 and 7 were submitted to a depletion period of 14 days during which they were fed as group 1 and then to a repletion period of 14 days when they were fed with the same diets as group 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Initial and final body weight, average growth rate, liver and femur weight, iron and zinc liver content as well as calcium and zinc femur content were the parameters evaluated for the growth and mineral deposit analysis. Anaerobes, enterobacteria, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria recount was performed from feces samples collected on different treatment days. Mineral sources under study presented slightly better characteristics than the reference standard ones. Moreover, the combination with a prebiotic may produce some advantages related to mineral absorption and intestinal microflora composition as a bifidogenic effect was confirmed.
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