Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Priyanka, Dr. Adarsh M Kalla, Shankarlingayya Sthavarmath and Dr. Narasimha Murthy

Abstract:
Milk composed of many essential minerals required by the body and is one of the main nutrition for mankind especially for infants. The absorption of iron appears to be enhanced by fermentation, presumably because of the presence of organic acids, including lactic acid. Dahi is a fermented milk product obtained by lactic acid fermentation through the action of starter cultures viz., Streptococcus lactis, Streptococcus diacetylactis and Streptococcus thermophilus either singly or in combination with Leuconostoc species and Lactobacillus species with one or more of other optional ingredients such as sugar. It is one of the oldest popular foods of the world because of its nutritional and therapeutic value in the human diet. It is highly recommended to the lactose intolerants, because of the reduced lactose content. Bio-availability is preferably determined by in-vivo tests, but these are expensive, labor-intensive, time consuming. Human studies to study the bio-availability of minerals are proved to be costly affair and time consuming. As an alternative, in-vitro 34 methods can be used to predict bio-availability of nutrients from foodstuffs. The in-vitro methods that are currently in use simulate gastro-intestinal stimulation and then determine the amount of soluble mineral or the amount of mineral that has permeated a membrane of specific pore size (Jim Kling., 2001). In the current study, an attempt was made to fortify with iron and zinc by using ferrous lactate, zinc sulphate @ 40 mg/kg milk. From the present study, The bio-availability of iron from fortified samples was higher in case of in-vivo method than in in-vitro method (iron 8.52 versus 8.1percent for milk and 14.2 versus 14.02 percent for dahi). The bio-availability of zinc was higher in case of in-vivo method than in in-vitro method (zinc 2.71 versus 2.63 percent for milk and 5.25 versus 5.2 percent for dahi).