Iron binding efficiency of polyphenols: Comparison of effect of ascorbic acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid on catechol and galloyl groups

• AA acts efficiently against high polyphenol concentrations and at low levels.
• All ratios of AA completely mitigate the iron binding at a ratio of 1:6.
• Irrespective of polyphenol concentration, high EDTA is required.
• The effect of AA remains unaffected by sample.

Dietary polyphenols are markedly studied for their antioxidant activity. They also have a negative impact on nutrition whereby they interfere with iron absorption. Common dietary polyphenols include: catechins, flavonols, flavanols, flavones, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins and phenolic acids. Ascorbic acid (AA) and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) are commonly used to counter act this reaction and increase iron bioavailability. This study was aimed at determining the effect of AA and EDTA on the catechol or galloyl iron binding ability of pure phenolics, coffee and tea. Phenolic concentrations of 40, 80, 610, 240, 320, 400, 520 and 900 μg/ml were tested against six levels of AA and EDTA. These effects were studied in detail using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) with the hypothesis that there would be one or more mean differences between the ratio of enhancer and the different concentrations of samples tested. AA was found to be more efficient than EDTA in a way that lesser quantity is required for completely overcoming negative iron binding effects of polyphenols and similar samples.