Abstract:
Mineral deficiency especially that of iron and zinc has continuously emerged as a public health issue in
developing countries, probably due to the over dependence on plant food sources, which contain more
than enough minerals to meet the daily requirement but have a low bioavailability for physiological
purposes. Experiments on in-vitro bioavailability were carried out on dry and green shelled beans. Invitro
bioavailability of iron and zinc in bean samples was determined by HCl-pepsin (HCl-P) and pepsinpancreatin
(P-P) method. The amount of the proxy bioavailable minerals were obtained by atomic
absorption spectrophotometry. In both minerals there was a small but significant (P=0.009) and
(P=0.0003) increase in in-vitro bioavailability after cooking. The average increase for all the varieties
was 3.2 to 3.4% for iron and 1.3 to 1.6% for zinc. The two minerals were more available in cooked green
shelled beans compared to dry ones. The highest difference for iron bioavailability was observed in
Maharagi soja (12.9%) while lowest was in TY 3396-12 (1.4%). The highest observed for zinc was 3% in
G59/1-2. Vulnerable groups who suffer from iron and zinc deficiency should be encouraged to consume
green shelled beans more often in comparison to dry beans to improve their mineral uptake.
