Effect of edible plants combination on mineral bioaccessibility and bioavailability, using in vitro digestion and liposome-affinity extraction

- Bionic gastrointestinal digestion and absorption were used for sample pretreatment.
- Mineral content in the chyme was used for mineral bioaccessibility assessment.
- Mineral bioavailability in vitro was assessed by liposome-affinity mineral content.
- Effect of edible plants combination and digestive enzymes was discussed.
- Safe dosage or tolerable upper intake level of edible plants for adults was proposed.

Edible plants were usually consumed by people to satisfy their nutritional requirements. However, how such combination affected mineral bioaccessibility and bioavailability was unknown. Persicae Semen (A) was combined with Carthami Flos (B) in different ratios and then used for the preparation of the soups. Following in vitro digestion, trace minerals in the soups were transformed into their final mineral coordinated complexes and mineral concentration in the chyme was used for mineral bioaccessibility assessment. As similar as the biomembrane between gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels, liposome was used as a biomembrane model. The mineral bioavailability was assessed by the content of liposome-affinity mineral in the chyme, which was controlled by the combination ratio and gastrointestinal digestive enzymes. The optimal combination ratio was 1A:1B (w/w) with a safe dosage of 421.0 g/day and 500.0 g/day for males and females, respectively, and a maximum dosage of 2368.4 g/day for both adult.