Effect of Consuming Zinc-Fortified Bread on Serum Zinc and Iron Status of Zinc-Deficient Women: A Double Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial

After iron deficiency, zinc deficiency is the major micronutrient deficiencyin developing countries, and staple food fortification is an effectivestrategy to prevent and improve it among at-risk-populations. noaction has been taken to reduce zinc deficiency via flour fortification sofar in iran, and little is known about the influence of zinc fortificationof flour on serum zinc and the iron status, and also about the optimumand effective amount of zinc compound that is used in food fortification.the objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of consumingzinc-fortified breads on the zinc and iron status in the blood serum.in this study, three types of bread were prepared from non-fortifiedand fortified flours, with 50 and 100 ppm elemental zinc in the form ofsulfate. eighty zinc-deficient women aged 19 to 49 years were randomlyassigned to three groups; the volunteers received, daily, (1) a nonfortifiedbread, (2) a high-zinc bread, and (3) a low-zinc bread for onemonth. serum zinc and iron were measured by atomic absorptionbefore and after the study. results showed a significant increase inserum zinc and iron levels in all groups (p < 0.001) except in the control(p > 0.05). absorption of zinc and iron in the group that consumedhigh-zinc bread was significantly greater than that in the groupthat received low-zinc bread (p < 0.01). it was concluded that fortificationof flour with 50–100 ppm zinc was an effective way to achieveadequate zinc intake and absorption in zinc-deficient people. it alsoappeared that consuming zinc-fortified bread improved ironabsorption.