Document Type : ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Authors

• H.A. Pardhe ¹
• N. Krishnaveni ¹
• B.K. Chekraverthy ¹
• S. Patel ²
• S. Naveen ³
• V. Rashmi ³
• P.C. Govinden ⁴

¹ Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Ooty, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India

² Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, JSS Academy of technical education, Noida, India

³ Food Quality Assurance Division, DRDO-Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru, Karnataka, India

⁴ Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Food Science and Technology Division, Mauritius

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Iron, an essential micronutrient, significantly contributes to growth, immune health, and cognitive development in human health. Inadequate dietary iron intake leads to iron deficiency anemia, affecting nearly 1.6 billion people, especially pregnant women and preschool children. Biofortification and fortification of iron in wheat is an acceptable and cost-effective strategy to alleviate iron deficiencies. This study aims to address iron deficiencies through the strategy of fortification and biofortification of wheat varieties. The study places specific emphasis on the proximate composition and iron/mineral content of different wheat varieties. To achieve these objectives, different spectrometric methods were employed to analyze the wheat samples.
METHODS: Proximate and mineral quantification were carried out following standard Association of Official Analytical Chemists methods using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, atomic absorption spectrometry, inductive coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy, and prediction was carried out using near-infrared spectra combined with chemometrics.
FINDINGS: The samples had moisture content (1.1 - 4.5 percent), protein (18.0 - 22.6 percent), fat (0.3 - 0.6 percent), gluten (6.3 - 10.3 percent), fiber (0.3 - 1.4 percent), alcoholic acidity (0.04 - 0.08 percent), ash (0.9 - 1.7 percent), and carbohydrate (71.1 - 75.2 percent). Iron was determined and compared by spectrophotometric methods. Iron concentration ranged from (0.7 to 6.3 milligrams/100 grams) in ultraviolet-visible analysis, (0.7 to 6.74 milligrams/100 grams) in atomic absorption spectrometry, and (0.81 to 6.8 milligrams/100 grams) in inductive coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy. The obtained results were compared with the standard "Food Composition and Food Safety Standard Authority of India" and predicted using near-infrared spectra combined with chemometrics.
CONCLUSION: The work aims to investigate the nutritional content of various wheat varieties, particularly focusing on iron content, which could potentially have implications for improving dietary strategies and addressing nutritional deficiencies. The biofortified varieties (HI-8663 and HI-1605) were found to have high iron content when compared to normal wheat. The acquired results bridge the intricate relationship between plant-based diets, micronutrient deficiencies, providing valuable insights into combating iron deficiencies in public health with the potential achievement of improved nutritional understanding, optimized wheat selection, advanced analytical techniques, education, awareness, and iron deficiency mitigation.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

• Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is among the most significant cereal crops grown worldwide and a staple for nearly 2.5 billion people; Inadequate dietary iron intake leads to Iron deficiency anemia affecting nearly 1.6 billion populations, especially in pregnant women and preschool children; Dietary interventions i.e., using iron-fortified and biofortified functional foods plays a vibrant role in addressing iron deficits;
• Hence there is a need to analyze the iron content in fortified and biofortified wheat by using UV/Visible spectrophotometry, Atomic absorption spectrophotometry, Inductive coupled plasma-Mass spectrophotometry to quantify the iron and Near-infrared spectroscopy predicts the mineral content, and proximate composition of the wheat flours;
• The presented analytical method is reliable and sensitive in mineral analysis, which allows for easy and quick assessment and prediction of components in wheat flour samples.

Keywords

• Biofortified
• Fortified
• Mineral quantification
• Proximate composition
• Spectrophotometric techniques

Main Subjects

• Environmental Science

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©2024 The author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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