Dissolution behaviour of ferric pyrophosphate and its mixtures with soluble pyrophosphates: Potential strategy for increasing iron bioavailability

  • Tian Tian
  • , Elena Blanco
  • , Stoyan K. Smoukov
  • , Orlin D. Velev
  • , Krassimir P. Velikov*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Ferric pyrophosphate (FePP) is a widely used iron source in food fortification and in nutritional supplements, due to its white colour, that is very uncommon for insoluble Fe salts. Although its dissolution is an important determinant of Fe adsorption in human body, the solubility characteristics of FePP are complex and not well understood. This report is a study on the solubility of FePP as a function of pH and excess of pyrophosphate ions. FePP powder is sparingly soluble in the pH range of 3-6 but slightly soluble at pH < 2 and pH > 8. In the presence of pyrophosphate ions the solubility of FePP strongly increases at pH 5-8.5 due to formation a soluble complex between Fe(III) and pyrophosphate ions, which leads to an 8-10-fold increase in the total ionic iron concentration. This finding is beneficial for enhancing iron bioavailability, which important for the design of fortified food, beverages, and nutraceutical products.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97-102
Number of pages6
JournalFood Chemistry
Volume208
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was financed by Senter Novem and the Food Nutrition Delta program grant FND07002 . S.K.S. is grateful for support from the ERC grant EMATTER ( #280078 ). K.P.V. is grateful for support from FP7 “Beyond Everest” program.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Funding

This work was financed by Senter Novem and the Food Nutrition Delta program grant FND07002 . S.K.S. is grateful for support from the ERC grant EMATTER ( #280078 ). K.P.V. is grateful for support from FP7 “Beyond Everest” program.

Keywords

  • Food fortification
  • Iron bioavailability
  • Iron pyrophosphate
  • Iron supplementation

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