Abstract
Tannins in plant foods and beverages may produce antinutritional or toxic effects although some proteins with high affinity for tannins seem to function as defense mechanism to tannin toxicity. Our objectives were to investigate of tea tannins, iron and protein and to evaluate the role of proteins in tannin effects on iron solubility. Iron solubility in vitro was measured using tea with and without proteins. Mixtures of tea, protein in varying concentrations(either gelatin or bovine serum albumin), and iron(eithe 10 or 50ug/mL) were prepared. Controls contained water in place of tea. Iron bioavailability was assessed by measuring iron solubility in the simulated gastric condition with pepsin digestion. Bound iron was removed by centrifugation and soluble in tea alone. When iron concentratin was 10ug/mL, addition of small amounts of protein to tea dramatically reduced iron solubility, but solubility of iron increased in the tea mixturea as the concentration of protein was increased. The percnetage of iron that precipitated was much greater at 10ug Fe/mL than the values at 50ug Fe/mL suggesting that the iron binding sites on the tea-protein complex was saturated. These results suggest that interactions of iron with tea tannins are influenced by the concentratins of protein and iron.