Vol. 11, Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Priyanka, Narasimha Murthy and Shankarlingayya Sthavarmath

Abstract:
Iron is an essential micro-mineral in human nutrition. It is a mineral found in every cell of the body to make part of blood cells. The total content of iron in an adult body is 3-5 g. About 70% of this occurs in the erythrocytes of blood as a constituent of hemoglobin. At least 5% of body iron is present in myoglobin of muscle. Heme is the most predominant iron containing substance. It is a constituent of several proteins/enzymes-hemoglobin, myoglobin, cytochromes, xanthine oxidase, catalase and peroxidase. Zinc is needed for the activation of over 300 enzymes in the body. This is important, since many of these enzymes’ functions as regulators of blood sugar level. Zinc plays a key role in the synthesis, storage and secretion of insulin. It seems to stimulate insulin action and insulin receptor tyrosine kinase activity. Zinc also plays a vital role in overcoming insulin resistance. In the current study, an attempt was made to fortify with iron and zinc by using ferrous lactate, zinc sulphate @ 40 mg/kg milk. This level showed satisfactory organoleptic, physico-chemical viz., acidity, total solids, fat and protein; and microbiological characteristics such as Total Viable Count, coliform count and yeast & mold counts. Animal experimentation by feeding rats with micro-mineral fortified dahi revealed increased gain in body weight, Feed and Protein Efficiency Ratio values (FER & PER). Blood iron and Blood serum zinc concentrations showed tremendous increase in rats fed with fortified dahi than in animals fed with unfortified dahi. Comparatively, lower blood glucose levels were observed in experimental animals fed with fortified dahi than animals fed with control dahi. From the present study, it can be concluded that, iron fortified dahi showed increase in blood iron then the unfortified dahi and the zinc fortified dahi doesn’t caused sharp fluctuations in blood glucose level thus stabilized blood glucose levels and hence, the zinc fortified fermented milk products can safely be consumed by early diabetic people to control blood glucose levels.