Biofortification with Iron and Zinc Improves Nutritional and Nutraceutical Properties of Common Wheat Flour and Bread

Abstract

The effect of field foliar Fe and Zn biofortification on concentration and potential bioavailability of Fe and Zn and health-promoting compounds was studied in wholemeal flour of two common wheat varieties (old vs modern). Moreover, the effect of milling and bread making was studied. Biofortification increased the concentration of Zn (+78%) and its bioavailability (+48%) in the flour of the old variety, whereas it was ineffective in increasing Fe concentration in both varieties. However, the old variety showed higher concentration (+41%) and bioavailability (+26%) of Fe than the modern one. As regard milling, wholemeal flour had higher Fe, Zn concentration and health-promoting compounds compared to white flour. Bread making slightly change Fe and Zn concentration but greatly increased their bioavailability (77 and 70%, respectively). All these results are of great support for developing a production chain of enriched functional bread having a protective role against chronic cardio-vascular diseases.

Field Inoculation of Bread Wheat with Rhizophagus irregularis under Organic Farming: Variability in Growth Response and Nutritional Uptake of Eleven Old Genotypes and A Modern Variety

“…In recent years, numerous studies have focused on the qualitative aspects of wheat production to face the widespread malnutrition due to the lack of nutrients in the diet, which leads to the development of pathologies [13][14][15]. There are several biofortification strategies for increasing the concentration of minerals in cereals, including selection for genotypes with high micronutrient use efficiency, intercropping with legumes, field application of micronutrients as chemical fertilizers, and utilization of beneficial microorganisms [12,[16][17][18][19].…”

Zinc in Wheat Grain, Processing, and Food

“…Comparison of wheat flour with different treatments. Data are from references(22,23,29,37,38,42,45,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63)(64)(65)(66)(67)(68)(69). Letters a, b, and c indicate a significant difference at the level of P < 0.05; n is the total number of samples.…”

Food Fortification through Innovative Technologies

“…Examples may continue for different products: mushroom sausages [110], mushroom powder pastes [118], marc bread [119], chestnut flour bread [120], spirulina paste [121], inulin-and lactobacilli-fortified juice [122], tortillas fortified with iron and folic acid [123,124], bread fortified with zinc and iron [19], etc.…”

“…A study by Wu [17] based on the consumption of common wheat biscuits biofortified with selenium through fertilization showed that although the levels of selenium in blood plasma increased, there were no significant changes of degenerative disease-specific biomarkers and of the health condition in general. Another method of biofortification that aimed at the development of wheat varieties enriched with some micronutrients was based on interactions between genotypes and environmental factors and led to good iron and zinc levels in humans [18,19].…”