Zinc in Wheat Grain, Processing, and Food

Min Wang; Fanmei Kong; Rui Liu; Qingqi Fan; Xiaocun Zhang

doi:10.3389/fnut.2020.00124

Zinc in Wheat Grain, Processing, and Food

Front Nutr. 2020 Aug 18:7:124. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2020.00124. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Min Wang¹, Fanmei Kong², Rui Liu³, Qingqi Fan⁴, Xiaocun Zhang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, China.
² College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, China.
³ Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China.
⁴ Crop Research Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Improving zinc (Zn) content in wheat and its processed foods is an effective way to solve human Zn deficiency, which can cause a variety of diseases. This article summarizes the works on Zn in wheat grain, wheat processing, and wheat-derived foods. Grain Zn content in wheat was 31.84 mg·kg^-1 globally but varied across continents, for example, 25.10 mg·kg^-1 in Europe, 29.00 mg·kg^-1 in Africa, 33.63 mg·kg^-1 in Asia, and 33.91 mg·kg^-1 in North America. Grain Zn content in wheat improved from 28.96 to 36.61 mg·kg^-1 and that in flour increased from 10.51 to 14.82 mg·kg^-1 after Zn fortification. Furthermore, Zn content varied in the different processed components of wheat; that is, Zn content was 12.58 mg·kg^-1 in flour, 70.49 mg·kg^-1 in shorts, and 86.45 mg·kg^-1 in bran. Zinc content was also different in wheat-derived foods, such as 13.65 mg·kg^-1 in baked food, 10.65 mg·kg^-1 in fried food, and 8.03 mg·kg^-1 in cooking food. Therefore, the suitable Zn fortification, appropriate processing, and food type of wheat are important to meet people's Zn requirement through wheat.

Keywords: bioavailability; flour; fortification; wheat; zinc.

Publication types

Review