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Free iron in pale, dark and alcohol-free commercial lager beers
Daniel Sancho1, Carlos A Blanco, Isabel Caballero
1Dpto. Ingeniería Agrícola y Forestal (Área de Tecnología de los Alimentos), E.T.S. Ingeniarías Agrarias, Universidad de Valladolid, 34004 Palencia, Spain.
Background:
A highly sensitive, selective, rapid, reliable and inexpensive method has been developed for the direct analysis of free iron in 40 samples of bottled lager beer.
Results:
A differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry technique at a hanging mercury drop electrode without any sample digestion was performed. The iron content in the analysed samples was in the range of 41 to 165 ppb.
Conclusions:
The results point out that dark beers keep the highest free iron concentrations, which may be related to the highest amounts of minor ingredients in dark beers. Meanwhile, alcohol-free beers present the lowest free iron concentrations. Some discussion is presented regarding the basis of the free and complexed iron in beer and its participation as an essential element in the human diet.
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