In vitro availability of iron from cereal meal with the addition of protein isolates and fenugreek leaves (Trigonella foenum-graecum)

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Abstract
In vitro iron availability was determined from a standard cereal meal (C) with and without the addition of protein isolates from bovine milk (BP), groundnut milk (GP) and soybean milk (SP). A second set of studies were done to investigate the potentially available iron from fenugreek leaves per se and the effect of their addition on the available iron from the cereal meal. The potentially available iron from the meal increased from 4.91% to 6.73% on the addition of BP. The next best enhancer was GP (4.91% to 6.17%). Although the addition of SP increased the total iron content of the cereal meal significantly, the percent available iron decreased compared to the other milk proteins. The addition of fenugreek leaves (100 g/meal) to the meal increased the total iron content of the meal significantly (3.24 mg to 9.12 mg) (p<.001), however, the available iron was observed to decrease (4.91% vs 4.34%).