Measuring Dietary Iron Absorption From Edible Insects and Assessing the Effect of Chitin Content on Iron Bioavailability (Study 2)

NCT05328141 | Unknown DMC

• 1 other identifier: Sust-iron-able2
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 11
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Due to the growing world population, there is a need to develop viable ecological and nutritional alternatives to animal food products. However, animal products are a key dietary source of well-absorbed iron, and iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia remain highly prevalent in high- and low-income countries. Meat and fish provide a substantial proportion of absorbed iron in the western diet by two distinct components: a) heme iron is well absorbed (20-45% fractional absorption) and is not affected by most dietary enhancers and inhibitors, which often affect non-heme iron absorption; b) peptides in muscle meat exert an enhancing effect the absorption of non-heme iron contained in other meal components. The potential of edible insects as a dietary source of well-absorbed iron has not been investigated in detail. In particular, it is unclear whether insects provide an iron moiety similar to hemoglobin which would be well absorbed and unaffected by other dietary components, and whether their presence in a test meal exerts an enhancing effect on iron bioavailability from the whole meal. To differentiate iron absorption from insect biomass from other sources, insects will be intrinsically labelled with the stable iron isotope 57Fe, while other food iron components will be labelled with the iron isotope 58Fe.The present studiy will provide novel data to elucidate the nutritional value as sources of dietary iron of insect species Xylotrupes gideon. X. gideon is an insect species traditionally widely consumed in SubSaharan Africa and South East Asia and recognised by FAO as an edible insect species. X gideon is produced in ZHAW facilities in Linthal, Switzerland under controlled conditions aiming to a highly sustainable and high nutritional value food product. Furthermore the benefit of ascorbic acid addition to X.gideon biomass on iron absorption will be quantified.

Conditions

Iron-deficiency

Keywords

edible insects; iron bioavailability; ascorbic acid; Xylotrupes gideon

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Fractional Iron absorption

  Fractional iron absorption will be calculated based on the shift of the iron isotope ratios in the collected blood samples after the administration of the intervention products .Fractional iron absorption will be measured as erythrocyte incorporation of the naturally occurring iron forms with different masses used to label the iron supplements.

  30th day of the study

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• Hemoglobin (Hb)

  screening (-1), day 16th and day 30th of the study

• Plasma ferritin (PF)

  screening (-1), day 16th and day 30th of the study

• C-Reactive Protein (CRP)

  screening (-1), day 16th and day 30th of the study

• Soluble transferring receptor (sTfR)

  screening (-1), day 16th and day 30th of the study

• Body iron stores (BIS)

  screening (-1), day 16th and day 30th of the study

Study Arms (3)

Bread and butter

EXPERIMENTAL

A toast bread with butter meal without insect biomass with FeSO4 (isotopic iron 54)

Other: Bread and butter

X.gideon

EXPERIMENTAL

Intrinsically labelled (57Fe) or non labelled X.gideon flour mixed with butter and sugar meal with FeSO4 (extrinsic label, isotopic iron 58)

Other: X.gideon

X.gideon with ascorbic acid

EXPERIMENTAL

Intrinsically labelled (57Fe) or non labelled X.gideon flour mixed with butter and sugar meal with FeSO4 (extrinsic label, isotopic iron 58) and ascorbic acid

Other: X.gideon with ascorbic acid

Interventions

Bread and butter OTHER

A bread with butter meal without insect biomass with FeSO4 (isotopic iron 54)

Bread and butter

X.gideon OTHER

Intrinsically labelled (57Fe) or non labelled X.gideon flour mixed with butter and sugar meal with FeSO4 (extrinsic label, isotopic iron 58)

X.gideon

X.gideon with ascorbic acid OTHER

Intrinsically labelled (57Fe) or non labelled X.gideon flour mixed with butter and sugar meal with FeSO4 (extrinsic label, isotopic iron 58) and ascorbic acid

X.gideon with ascorbic acid

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 45 Years
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Female, 18 to 45 years old
• Normal Body Mass Index (18.5 - 25 kg/m2)
• Body weight ≤ 55 kg
• Non-anemic (hemoglobin (Hb) \>12.0 g/dL)
• Serum Ferritin \< 25 μg/L;
• Normal CRP (\<5.0 mg/L), indicating no inflammation
• Knowledge of English at least at level B2 (assessed by self-declaration)
• Signed informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• Pregnancy (assessed by self-declaration)
• Lactating up to 6 weeks before study initiation
• Any metabolic, gastrointestinal kidney or chronic disease such as diabetes, hepatitis, hypertension, cancer or cardiovascular diseases (according to the participants own statement)
• Continuous/long-term use of medication (except for oral contraceptives and anti-acne medication)
• Consumption of mineral and vitamin supplements within 2 weeks prior to 1st meal administration
• Blood transfusion, blood donation or significant blood loss (accident, surgery) over the past 4 months
• Earlier participation in a study using iron stable isotopes or participation in any clinical study within the last 30 days
• Participant who cannot be expected to comply with study protocol (e.g. not available on certain study appointments
• Cigarette smoking ( \> 1 cigarette per day)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology: lead
• Zurich University of Applied Sciences: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Human Nutrition

Zurich, 8092, Switzerland

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anemia, Iron-Deficiency

Interventions

Bread; Butter; Ascorbic Acid

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Anemia, Hypochromic; Anemia; Hematologic Diseases; Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases; Iron Deficiencies; Iron Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Food; Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Physiological Phenomena; Food and Beverages; Dietary Fats; Fats; Lipids; Dairy Products; Sugar Acids; Acids, Acyclic; Carboxylic Acids; Organic Chemicals; Hydroxy Acids; Carbohydrates

Study Officials

• Nikolin Hilaj, MSc

  Laboratory of Human Nutrition ETH Zürich

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 7, 2022
• First Posted: April 14, 2022
• Study Start: May 20, 2022
• Primary Completion: July 20, 2022
• Study Completion: July 30, 2022
• Last Updated: June 10, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CH (1)