Background. Fortified food products contain usually higher amounts of certain nutrients. However, the information about the nutritional quality of such products is limited. The objective of this study was to determine the content and the release of iron from fortified and non-fortified food products available on the Polish market.
Material and methods. A group of 29 fortified with Fe and non-fortified food products, such as cereal products (16) and confectionaries (13), were purchased from local market between October and November 2009. The content of Fe in these products, as well as
the amount of Fe released in enzymatic digestion in vitro was determined by the flame atomic absorption spectrometry method.
Results. It was found that most of the fortified with Fe food products had significantly higher amount and the potential bioavailability of this element in comparison with
the non-fortified analogues, however the content of Fe determined analytically not always matched the values declared on the label.
Conclusions. Products fortified with Fe appear to be better sources of potentially bioavailable Fe in comparison with the non-fortified analogues.