The effect of fruit extracts with polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity on the in vitro accessibility of iron in high-tannin sorghum

Dephytinized high-tannin sorghum flour was incubated with crude extracts from pear, banana or avocado, respectively, followed by investigation of the effects on the phenolic content and on in vitro accessible iron. All fruits contained polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and incubation resulted in significant reduction of phenolic compounds. Incubation with avocado extract resulted in the lowest levels of phenolic compounds, as well as the highest amount of in vitro accessible iron. Peroxidase activity and some organic acids in the fruit extracts might also have contributed to the positive effect on iron accessibility. Nevertheless, incubation of the sorghum flour with the fruit extracts under conditions enabling the PPO to oxidize phenolic compounds, resulted in the highest accessibility of iron. The results from this study suggest that the PPO activity in simple fruit extracts can be utilized to increase the accessibility of iron in dephytinized polyphenol-containing cereal foods. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.