Ingestion of an indigestible saccharide, difructose anhydride III, partially prevents the tannic acid-induced suppression of iron absorption in rats.

Dietary tannic acid (TA) inhibits iron absorption and some indigestible oligosaccharides have been shown to promote mineral absorption. In this study, we examined whether difructose anhydride III (DFA III) or fructooligosaccharide (FOS) stimulate iron absorption in TA-fed rats. Two experiments were conducted using male Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 90-110 g) in a randomized block design. Rats were fed control, DFA III or FOS (30 g/kg) diets in expt. 1, and control, TAcontrol, TAFOS or TADFA III (TA, 15 g/kg) diets in expt. 2 for 3 wk during which blood sampling was performed weekly and fecal collection twice. In expt. 1, apparent iron absorption was higher (P < 0.001) in the DFA III-fed (65.7 and 55.9%, d 8-10 and 19-21) and FOS-fed (59.9%, d 19-21) groups than in the control group (48.4 and 45.4%, d 8-10 and 19-21) without differences in blood hemoglobin concentrations or hematocrits. TA feeding reduced hemoglobin concentrations and hematocrits (119.1 g/L, 0.360; P < 0.001), and the feeding of TADFA III partially improved this anemic condition (129.6 g/L, 0.403), whereas TAFOS feeding did not influence these variables (120.6 g/L, 0.342; expt. 2). Iron absorption was lower in the TA-fed groups (19.8%; P < 0.001) than in the control group (49.4%), whereas the absorption in both TA-fed indigestible sugar groups was higher (DFA III, 43.2 and 38.2%, d 8-10 and 19-21; FOS, 39.4%, d 8-10; P < 0.001) than in the TA-control group except for the TAFOS-fed group (25.1%, d 19-21). Serum iron concentrations, unsaturated iron-binding capacities, total iron-binding capacities and transferrin saturations (%) were not improved by the feeding of TADFA III or TAFOS. Furthermore, liver iron concentrations were decreased by TA feeding (P < 0.001) and were not increased by the feeding of indigestible sugars. The feeding of DFA III or FOS decreased the pH of the cecal contents (P < 0.001) while increasing major organic acid pools. In all groups fed TA, approximately 18% of the ingested TA was recovered in the feces. Our results demonstrate that TA reduces iron absorption and induces anemia, conditions that are partially prevented by the feeding of DFA III, but not FOS.