Towards better understanding of in vitro bioavailability of iron through the use of dialysis profiles from a continuous-flow dialysis with inductively coupled plasma spectrometric detection

A continuous-flow dialysis (CFD) method with an on-line inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometric (ICP-OES) simultaneous multielement measurement for the study of in vitro mineral bioavailability was previously reported. The method was based on a simulated gastric digestion in a batch system followed by a continuous-flow intestinal digestion - dialysis with on-line measurement of dialysed mineral concentration by ICP-OES. This study demonstrates how the dialysis profiles obtained could be exploited to understand differences of mineral dialysability and the effect of enhancers and inhibitors. The graphical plot of time-dependent cumulative dialysed mineral concentrations and percent dialysis was efficiently used for these purposes. Iron fortificants in various chemical forms were used to demonstrate the effect of their anionic parts on dialysability together with enhancement and inhibition effects from food acids.