Figure 7.
Iron in cooked immature garden peas is more bioavailable than in mature peas. (A) Percentage of soluble and precipitated iron in the final step of the simulated gastrointestinal digestion. (B) Iron uptake in Caco-2 cells exposed to the digestates of microwaved (immature) garden peas and boiled mature peas. (C) Percentage of change in iron uptake into Caco-2 cells after adding phytic acid to the simulated digestion of garden peas, and (D) after adding phytase enzyme to the simulated digestion of mature peas. Data represent means ± SEM from 3–4 different simulated digestions which were each applied in triplicate to Caco-2 cells. Means without a common letter differ (p < 0.05, using one-way ANOVA for (B) and Student t-test in (C and D).