BIOAVAILABILITY OF ZINC AND COPPER IN RATS FED ON NIGERIA PEASANT DIETS BY U. I. UPON, I. B. UMOH, M. U. ETENG and I. O. WILLIAMS

ABSTRACT

Bioavailability studies on zinc and copper from three different rural Nigerian peasant diets in Wistar albino rats were carried out. Serum levels of minerals were used to assess bioavailablity. The mineral composition of diets studied ranged between 0.94 and 1.79mg/100g for zinc and between 2.19 and 1.62mg/100g for copper. The serum zinc levels ranged between 1.90 and 3.54mg/I for the test groups and 3.67 and 5.54mg/I for the control groups. On the analysis of the effect of the diets on zinc bioavailability there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between group 2 fed on ”foofoo and edikang ikong” which had the lowest level and group 3 fed on “ekpan nkukwo” which had the highest serum zinc value. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the test groups and the control groups fed on semi-synthetic basal diet. The serum copper level (6.54mg/I) was highest in the animals fed on "foofoo and edikang ikong" soup while those fed on "ekpan nkukwo" had the least (2.68mg/I) serum copper level. The values for the control groups ranged between 1.92 and 3.84mg/I. There was a significant difference in copper bioavailability between the test groups and the control groups using the serum copper level. In general when compared with the zinc and copper from the control diets, the uptake of zinc and copper in most of the diets was marginal although copper was more available. KEY WORDS: Zinc, Copper, Bioavailability, Diet