SUMMARY
Phytate from an alternative dietary supplement has no effect on the calcium, iron and zinc status in undernourished rats
A mixture of cereal bran, eggshells and cassava leaf powder, known as multimixture (MM), has been widely used in developing countries as a dietary supplement to combat malnutrition in children. The introduction of phytate from cereal bran in infant diets has generated serious controversy about MM due to the mineral chelating effect of phytate. This paper reports on a study to investigate the bioavailability of calcium, iron and zinc in rats fed with a deficient diet supplemented with MM. Undernourished rats were treated with a deficient diet (DD) to which MM containing different phytate and mineral concentrations was added. Body weight gains, Ca, Fe, Zn and phytate balances, blood hemoglobin concentration and the mineral content of tissue were determined. DD supplemented with 5% and 25% of MM increased the rats’ hemoglobin blood concentration, fur regrowth, Ca concentration in the femur and promoted body weight gain 40 times higher than did the DD. Extra calcium, iron and zinc added to the diet with 25% of MM did not increase the rats’ growth rates. Both the addition of NaCl, KF and KI in MM and the use of dephytinized bran in the MM composition led to a significant increase in the rats’ growth (P < 0.0001); however, these changes failed to increase Ca, Fe and Zn bioavailability. Our findings suggest that the Ca, Fe and Zn bioavailability was not affected by the MM phytate content or by the concentrations of NaCl, KF and KI in the diet.

Key words: Cereal bran, phytate, bioavailability, minerals.



Recibido: 14/09/2000
Aceptado: 10/07/2001

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