In Vitro Study to determine the effect of zinc on non-heme iron absorption

It has been well documented that bioavailability of iron is influenced by other food constituents. We carried out a kinetic study to look at the effect of zinc on ferric iron uptake in human epithelial Caco-2 TC7 cell-line. Zinc reduced iron uptake in a concentration-dependent manner. Iron uptake was significantly increased in the presence of ascorbic acid in the medium. We also found that zinc significantly increased the main iron transporter Divalent Metal Transporter-1 (DMT1) expression in whole cell and membrane proteins. The evidence from in vitro studies show that zinc suppressed iron uptake by Caco-2 cells and this phenomenon could be reversed by the presence of ascorbic acid in the growth media.