Dual and triple encapsulated iron gluconate speed up anemia recovery in an animal model

Food fortification can be a solution to anemia in developing countries. A previous study determined that the combination of spray drying, hydroxypropyl-methylcellulose as wall material, and maltodextrin as bulk material, encapsulated iron gluconate achieved the highest bioavailability. However, the addition of vitamin B12 to the hydroxypropyl-methylcellulose/maltodextrin capsules increased the iron cell uptake over the previously reported results. The cell viability, the number of live, healthy cells in a sample, of HepG2, human liver cancer cells, increases by about 17% for dual-encapsulated iron gluconate and vitamin b12. The cell uptake in Caco2, human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells, is higher by 25% when using encapsulated iron and vitamin b12 compared to encapsulated iron. The strength of dual-encapsulated iron and vitamin b12 is also confirmed in in-vivo studies. Once fully anemic, young female rats eating food with encapsulated iron gluconate and vitamin b12, show the fastest recovery with respect to rats eating food with encapsulated iron and pure iron. The first needed only five days for their hemoglobulin values to return to normal. The second and the third needed 15 and 21 days, respectively.