Evaluation of Fe, Cu, Zn, Ca, Mg, Mn, Na, K, and P bioaccessibility and speciation Ca and Fe in unconventional food plants

Abstract

Taioba (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott), Ora-pro-nobis (Pereskia aculeata Miller) and Serralha (Sonchus oleraceus L.) are unconventional food plants, which are part of brazilian biodiversity, however, they are not included in the diet of a large part of the population, because, since they are not organized in productive chains, their consumption is restricted to certain regions. Some studies have shown that these vegetables contain high concentrations of minerals, mainly, iron and calcium, however the bioaccessibility of these elements is not yet known. Therefore, the objective of this project is to evaluate the minerals bioaccessibility, aiming to generate information that contributes to the understanding of the nutritional potential of these vegetables. The assessment of Fe, Cu, Zn, Ca, Mg, Mn, Na, K, and P bioaccessibility present in raw and cooked unconventional food plants will be carried out by the INFOGEST 2.0 in vitro digestion protocol. Due to the nutritional importance and deficiency of Fe and Ca in the brazilian diet, speciation studies will be carried out in the whole samples of the raw and cooked unconventional food plants, as well as, in the supernatants of the samples submitted to in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. In this way, it will be possible to identify which are the soluble species that are being considered bioaccessible and the effect of digestion on these elements species. The speciation study of this project has as main purpose, to identify and quantify Fe and Ca species linked to complexing agents, proteins and other molecular compounds, which could compromise the absorption of these minerals. Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) will be used with parallel detection by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and High Resolution Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS). (AU)