75 FORTIFICATION ON BISCUITS WITH HEME-IRON. SENSORY EVALUATION AND IRON BIOAVAILABILITY

School age children in Chile receive 30g of biscuits each day through a national food supplementation program. Wheat flour biscuits were fortified with 4,6 and 8% of a hemoglobin concentrate obtained from cattle blood. The 4% and 6% fortified biscuits were considered acceptable for consumption and did not show unfavorable changes after storage for 6 months at room temperature or 40°C. Bioavailability of the heme-iron was studied isotopically in 15 children preparing biscuits with radioactive hemoglobin obtained from a 55Fe-injected calf. Each child received 30g of biscuits containing 5.5mg of heme-iron and 2.1 uCi of 55Fe on day 1 and a solution of ferrous ascorbate (2mg iron, 0.7 uCi 59Fe) on day 2. Absorption was calculated from the circulating radioactivity on day 15 according to Eakins and Erown. Geometric mean absorption of the fortification iron was 19.7% with a heme-iron/ferrous ascorbate absorption ratio of 0.65. Fortification of biscuits with hemoglobin appears as a promising way of providing children with bioavailable iron.