2005, Volume 11 No. 2

ARTICLE 10

The Effect of Calcium, Ascorbic Acid and Tannic Acid on Iron Availability from Arthrospira Platensis by Caco-2 Cell Model

Loh Su Peng¹, Hishamuddin Omar², Abdul Salam Abdullah¹, Rehir Dahalan³ and Maznah Ismail^1
1 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
² Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
³ Atomic Energy Licensing Board, Batu 24, Jalan Dengkil, 43800 Dengkil, Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
There are several dietary factors that are known to affect the bioavailability of iron such as protein, calcium, ascorbic acid, polyphenol and phytate. The aim of this study was to determine iron bioavailability from spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) in the presence of calcium, ascorbic acid (AA) and tannic acid (TA). The experiments were conducted using in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture system. Comparison was made with ferrous sulphate (FeSO4) as a reference. At low calcium concentrations (1:05, 1:10, 1:15, 1:20 Fe:Ca molar ratios), iron bioavailability from spirulina was significantly better than from FeSO4. However, at higher calcium concentrations (1:37, 1:75, 1:149 Fe:Ca molar ratios), iron bioavailability from spirulina was found to be similar to that from FeSO4. Addition of ascorbic acid of different concentrations (1:0.5, 1:1, 1:1.5 and 1:2 Fe:AA molar ratios) increased iron availability from FeSO4 more than from spirulina. The concentrations of tannic acid (1:1, 1:1.4 and 1:2 Fe:TA molar ratios) used in this study reduced iron availability from spirulina but not from FeSO4. Iron from spirulina by itself is highly bioavailable but consumers should be aware of factors that could inhibit its bioavailability.

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