Extrusion and iron bioavailability in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The effect of extrusion cooking (14% moisture and 130°C processing temperature) and of home-cooking on chickpea iron bioavailability was studied by the hemoglobin regeneration method in anemic rats. The iron pool was calculated from hemoglobin concentration and animal weight, and iron bioavailability from the relationship between iron pool gain (Δ pool) and mg of ingested iron. Iron bioavailability relative to ferrous sulfate was calculated by the following equation: Y=63.989 e−0.0458X [Y= % absorbed; X=ingested Fe (mg)] on the basis of the results of control groups. The results showed that there was no significant difference between groups (extruded and cooked) in terms of mean percentage of iron bioavailability relative to Fe2SO4. We conclude that chickpea is a good source of iron and extrusion cooking is a process comparable to home-cooking in terms of iron bioavailability.