Association of Lifestyle and Dietary Habits With Alternative Tobacco and Nicotine Product Use and Intention to Use: Findings From the Italian MINERVA Project

Objectives: Iron deficiency is prevalent in developing countries where there is an over-reliance on cereal-based diets high in mineral absorption inhibitors.This study evaluated effects of food-to-food fortification (FtFF) of whole-grain maize-based porridge with moringa leaves (rich in iron) and baobab fruit (rich in iron absorption enhancers-ascorbic and citric acids) on ferritin formation in Caco-2 cells (human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells) when compared with conventional iron fortification (FeSO 4 ) and ascorbic acid inclusion.Methods: Four maize-based porridge formulations were prepared to have similar iron contents, designed to meet 20% of the recommended nutrient intake for iron for women of reproductive age. 1) Maize+FeSO 4 +carrot+mango, serving as the control to 2) Maize+moringa+carrot+mango; 3) Maize+Fe-SO 4 +ascorbic acid+carrot+mango, serving as control to 4) Maize+FeSO 4 +baobab +carrot+mango.These were subjected to a coupled in vitro gastrointestinal digestion/Caco-2 cellferritin ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) assay.Mineral contents of digest supernatants (soluble fraction) were determined using ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry).Results: FtFF of maize-based porridge with moringa decreased the total and percentage soluble iron by up to 87%, and ferritin formation by the Caco-2 cell by 57% when compared to FeSO 4 fortification.Similarly, FtFF with baobab decreased the total and percentage soluble iron by up to 77% and ferritin formation by 37%, when compared to ascorbic acid inclusion.Moringa is high in calcium, phytate and polyphenols, which can form insoluble complexes with iron, hence, inhibiting iron uptake by the cells.Baobab-fortified porridge had lower ascorbic acid content and ascorbic acid:iron molar ratio (0.9:1) compared to its control (2.0:1), which may be responsible for its lower iron solubility, and consequently lower ferritin formation.Also, polyphenols in baobab likely formed small polyphenol-iron complexes of low availability.Conclusions: FtFF of maize-based porridges with moringa leaves and baobab fruit reduces ferritin formation in Caco-2 cells.Hence, it may reduce iron absorption when compared to conventional iron fortification and ascorbic acid inclusion.