Evaluation of the bioaccessible fractions of Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn in baby foods

The bioaccessibility of four essential micronutrients (iron, zinc, copper and manganese) in some baby foods was evaluated using an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model. For all of the flour-based foods evaluated, the bioaccessibility of Zn was low, while the bioaccessibility of Cu was above 50%. For these samples, the bioaccessibility of Mn was lower than 50%. Two samples composed of oat and rice flour and whole wheat flour demonstrated a lower bioaccessible fraction of Fe (less than 35%), while the sample made with wheat flour showed high Fe bioaccessibility (approximately 80%). For vegetable- and meat-based baby foods, the Fe bioaccessibility was greater than 80% in samples that contained meat and chicken and approximately 20% for the banana-based sample. The bioaccessibility of Zn was small for all of the foods studied, and in some cases, no Zn appeared to be released. The sample containing banana showed 100% Cu bioaccessibility, in contrast to meat and chicken-based samples, whose Cu bioaccessibility values were less than 50%. The opposite effect occurred for Mn, in which samples containing meat and chicken presented a bioaccessible fraction greater than 50% while the banana-based sample had a fraction less than 50%.