Role of Wheat Fortification with Zinc Compounds in Changes of Zinc Blood Level of Community

Bread is the main food of Iranian people. The consumption of bread supplies a significant portion of the protein (70%) and calories (20%) needed by body. Agricultural soil in Iran contains less than 0.7 milligram/kg of zinc, while in standard cases, soil should contains more than 1 milligram/kg. Studies revealed that the content of zinc in produced wheat in Iran's calcareous lands is less than 15 milligram/kg whereas American wheat contains 27 milligram/kg. Zinc deficiency mainly affects on different parts of body such as immunity and digestive systems. Zinc is most important on reproduction, skin health, behavioral nervous development, physical growth and body resistance against diseases. With regards to its vital role in body, zinc deficiency in soil and produce (e.g. corns) and consequently its deficiency in body, counts as one of the most important problems in the national nutritional programs. This study was carried out to assess the effect of soil fortification with zinc compounds in the level of zinc serum.
In the first stage, agriculture soil was fortified with values of 15 kg/hectare iron sexsothirin, 40 kg/hectare manganese sulfate and 50kg/hectare zinc sulfate. The value of zinc in consuming flour under intervention before and during the study was measured by atomic absorption machine through dry oxidation. A total of 1795 local people were selected from Urmia city, Iran and went under intervention. Blood sample were taken from 1% of the population before and after intervention, blood serum was separated and the value of zinc was measured with the use of UK Randox kit by auto analyzer machine Hitadin 704.This study has been carried out as a field trial study. Statistical analysis, in form of means, standar deviations with 95% confidence intervals with comparison between values before and after intervention were presented.
The mean blood serum zinc before and after intervention was 80.05, 109.73 microgram/deciliter blood respectively with 95% confidence interval (CI= 102.58, 116.89), considered to be significant (P=0.001). The mean serum zinc in women and men before intervention was 75.23, 87.92 respectively and difference between two groups was significant (p=0.028). The mean serum zinc after intervention in women and men was similar (110.39, 108.66 respectively with P=0.818). Differences between the mean serum level of zinc before and after intervention were significant for women (P=0.001) as well as for men (P=0.001).
These findings indicated that using zinc compounds as soil fortification led to improvement of zinc standards in wheat produce and causes to increase the level of zinc serum in all sex and age group of community with the use of enriched flour for 6 months continuously.