Bioavailability of Vitamin D3 from a Fortified Cereal Based Snack: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background and Objective: There is a widespread prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Indian children and adolescents. Fortification of commonly available cereals with vitamin D3 could be a viable strategy to improve their vitamin D status. This study was undertaken to address the issue of vitamin D deficiency among adolescents by investigating the bioavailability of vitamin D3 from a cereal legume snack (laddoo) fortified with vitamin D3 versus the commercially available cholecalciferol supplement. Materials and Methods: Two groups of six adolescents aged 16‐17 years. with low serum 25‐hydroxy vitamin D were randomly divided. Subjects in the test group were given the fortified laddoo (1000 IU vitamin D3) while those in the reference group were given commercially available vitamin D3 (1000 IU) supplement. Serum calcium was measured at 0 h and serum 25‐(OH)D was measured at 0, 6 and 24 h intervals. Results: The serum 25(OH)D levels raised from 12.28±3.86 to 13.78±4.54 and to 14.71±3.66 ng mLG1 in the test group and 12.91±4.78 to 13.78±4.54 and to 14.53±4.61 ng mLG1 in the reference group at 0, 6 and 24 h intervals respectively. No significant differences (t =‐0.252, p>0.05 at 0 h, t = 0.084, p>0.05 at 6 h, t = 0.075, p>0.05 at 24 h) were observed in the increase of serum 25(OH)D concentrations in between both the groups. Conclusion: Hence fortified cereal legume snack (laddoo) could be novel tool in improving the vitamin D status of adolescents.