Enhanced In Vitro Iron Availability from Traditional Foods of Western India: Effect of Soaking, Germination and Fermentation

Abstract

Soaking, germination and fermentation are simple techniques which are widely practiced at household level in India. These are also reported to improve the nutritive value of foods. However, regional data on composition and bioavailability of nutrients from cooked food are scanty. Therefore, selected foods commonly consumed in the western region of India were analysed for phytates, tannates, oxalates, calcium, phosphorus, ascorbic acid, total, soluble and ionisable iron. Subsequently, the percent bioavailable iron was calculated from the foods under study. The foods selected were, soaked and cooked field beans, red gram, Bengal gram, kabuli chana, cow pea, peas, soyabean; germinated and soyabean, green gram, lentil, moth beans and fermented foods prepared using rice and split legume combination viz. idli, khaman, dhokla and handwa. All the processing treatments brought about a significant reduction in the phytate, tannate and oxalate content. A concomitant increase was observed in the soluble and ionisable iron content. Ascorbic acid showed a negligible increase in fermented foods only. The calcium: phosphorus ratio improved on processing.