Ferrous Fumarate and Ferric Pyrophosphate as Food Fortificants in Developing Countries

Iron fortification of foods is usually considered the most cost-effective approach to prevent iron deficiency. However, iron is the most difficult mineral to add to foods. When added as water-soluble, highly bioavailable compounds such as ferrous sulfate, the soluble iron rapidly catalyzes fat oxidation resulting in rancid products. In addition, water-soluble iron compounds can cause unacceptable color reactions during storage and food preparation. Thus, food manufacturers are often obliged to use water-insoluble iron compounds to fortify foods and fortification compounds such as elemental Fe powder and ferric pyrophosphate are widely used to fortify cereal flours and infant cereals. However, these compounds never dissolve completely in the gastric juice and are usually far less well absorbed than ferrous sulfate (Hurrell 1997). Ferrous fumarate on the other hand, although almost insoluble in water, readily dissolves in the gastric juice and has been shown to have an equivalent absorption to ferrous sulfate in healthy, Western adults (Hurrell et al. 1989, 2000). Because it is non-water soluble, it causes relatively few sensory problems in the fortified foods and is therefore an interesting food fortificant. Iron absorption from ferrous fumarate has been demonstrated to be significantly higher than from ferric pyrophosphate in European infants (Davidsson et al. 2000) and this compound is currently used to fortify blended cereal flours for food aid programs and commercial infant cereals in Europe. However, based on our recent study in Bangladeshi children, there is now concern that due to lower gastric acid output, young children in developing countries may not be able to absorb ferrous fumarate as well as Western adults (Davidsson et al. 2001a, Sarker et al. 2001, 2003). Clearly, there is a need to evaluate the efficacy of water insoluble iron compounds to prevent the development of iron deficiency/iron deficiency anemia in infants and young children living in develo