Food matrix and cooking process affect mineral bioaccessibility of enteral nutrition formulas

Abstract

BACKGROUND: When enteral formulas (EF) are administered orally as a supplement to the normal diet, they are often mixed with conventional foods or included in recipes in order to seek new flavors, textures and avoid monotony. The aims of this work were to study the bioaccessibility of Fe, Zn and Ca from commercial EF and the impact upon their incorporation into sweet preparations. Twenty commercial EF, before and after the inclusion in sweet food (rice pudding: RP, banana smoothie: BS, tea: T and chocolate dessert: CD) were evaluated regarding Fe, Zn and Ca dialyzability (%DFe, %DZn, %DCa) as estimator of mineral bioaccessibility. RESULTS: Fe, Zn and Ca dialyzability from EF was variable and generally low. Heating during EF-sweet food preparation (T and CD) lowered 44.1 %DFe, possibly due to degradation of vitamin C, and 52.7 %DZn and 25.3 %DCa, due to the interaction with food components. CONCLUSION: EF and EF-sweet foods did not make a good supply of Fe, Zn and Ca, as it is recommended. This study demonstrated how the bioaccessibility of these minerals is affected for food matrix in which EF is included as well as the heating during food preparation.