Influence of dietary fiber on the bioavailability of zinc in rats.

ABSTRACT

Young male albino rats were fed ad libitum semipurified diet supplemented with or without 5% of purified dietary fiber (cellulose, agar-agar, pectin, chitin or chitosan) for 31 days. Each test diet was carefully prepared in order to contain zinc at the level of 8 ppm from zinc acetate. In rats fed diets containing 5% of dietary fiber except chitosan, food consumption was higher than the control. The body weight gain of rats fed diets containing cellulose, pectin or chitin was higher than the control. However, food intake and body weight gain of rats fed the diet containing 5% of chitosan were definitely lower than not only the other fiber including diet groups but also the control group. When dietary fiber was added at 5% level to diet, zinc absorption was not changed to a considerable degree. But, the apparent zinc absorption of rats fed the agar-agar diet was 70%. On the other hand, zinc absorption in the pectin diet group was about 10% higher than the control. The total amount of zinc in tibia or femur of rats fed non-fiber diets was a little higher than that of rats fed fiber diets.