Enhanced Bioavailability of Ferric Pyrophosphate Delivery System Constructed with β-Glucan and Casein Phosphopeptide

Iron supplementation has been an important and complicated health topic. Available iron preparations generally have issues such as instability, inadequate absorption, and low consumer acceptability. This study provided a novel ferric pyrophosphate (FePP) delivery system, the FePP-casein-phosphopeptide-dextran (FCD) complex, with sodium pyrophosphate (NaPP) as a solvent promoter and casein-phosphopeptide (CPP) and β-glucan as wall materials. Compared to FePP, FCD showed better properties, including good water solubility (95% resolubilization), color stability (pH 3.5-6.5), compatibility with sensitive nutrients like vitamin C (VC), and lipid oxidation stability (delayed by approximately 50%). In vitro, FCD demonstrated gradual iron release in the gut with a release rate exceeding 80%. In vivo, FCD effectively alleviated iron deficiency anemia (IDA) symptoms in mice, with superior overall efficacy to FePP. Therefore, this novel FCD iron delivery system had considerable potential to be applied in nutritional food systems or iron supplements.