Iron bioavailability in 8–24‐month‐old T hai children from a micronutrient‐fortified quick‐cooking rice containing ferric ammonium citrate or a mixture of ferrous sulphate and ferric sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

A quick‐cooking rice, produced from broken rice, is a convenient ingredient for complementary foods in Thailand. The rice is fortified with micronutrients including iron during the processing procedure, which can cause unacceptable sensory changes. A quick‐cooking rice fortified with ferric ammonium citrate ( FAC ) or a mixture of ferrous sulphate ( FeSO 4 ) and ferric sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid ( NaFeEDTA ), with a 2:1 molar ratio of iron from FeSO 4  : iron from NaFeEDTA ( FeSO 4  +  NaFeEDTA ), gave a product that was organoleptically acceptable. The study compared iron absorption by infants and young children fed with micronutrient‐fortified quick‐cooking rice containing the test iron compounds or FeSO 4 . Micronutrient‐fortified quick‐cooking rice prepared as a traditional Thai dessert was fed to two groups of 15 8–24‐month healthy Thai children. The iron fortificants were isotopically labelled with 57 Fe for the reference FeSO 4 or 58 Fe for the tested fortificants, and iron absorption was quantified based on erythrocyte incorporation of the iron isotopes 14 days after feeding. The relative bioavailability of FAC and of the FeSO 4  +  NaFeEDTA was obtained by comparing their iron absorption with that of FeSO 4 . Mean fractional iron absorption was 5.8% [±standard error ( SE ) 1.9] from FAC and 10.3% (± SE 1.9) from FeSO 4  +  NaFeEDTA . The relative bioavailability of FAC was 83% ( P  = 0.02). The relative bioavailability of FeSO 4  +  NaFeEDTA was 145% ( P  = 0.001). Iron absorption from the rice containing FAC or FeSO 4  +  NaFeEDTA was sufficiently high to be used in its formulation, although iron absorption from FeSO 4  +  NaFeEDTA was significantly higher ( P  < 0.00001).