Applicability of nanoparticles in increasing bioavailability and bioavailability of Fe and Se in chocolate

Abstract

In this study the total concentration, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of Fe and Se in chocolate will be evaluated. For bioaccessibility and bioavailability studies a procedure for in vitro gastrointestinal digestion will be employed, followed by absorption studies using the Caco-2 cells, which is a model of epithelial cells that are extracted from the human colon. The inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) and/or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF AAS) will be used for the evaluation of the content of the elements. Considering that the elements of interest are extremelly important for human health and that the bioavailability and bioavailability values of these elements in different types of foods are generally low, the aplicability of Fe and Se nanoparticles will be evaluated for increasing the bioavailability of these elements from chocolate. In addition, the brazilian population does not have a great knowledge of the effective nutritional value of this product. Therefore, it is also expected that this study contributes to the knowledge of the nutritional value of the chocolate