Background

Iron deficiency is recognized worldwide as a major public health concern, related to nutrition. In Colombia, the improvement of the nutritional strategies for children are required to increase their life quality.

Objective

To develop a mixed fruit beverage from strawberry, blackberry, gooseberry and purple passion fruit, fortified with iron for preschoolers.

Materials and methods

For the product development, four fruits were selected and characterized. To establish the beverage formulation, an orthogonal experimental design L825 was performed, evaluating the sensory acceptance as the response variable. Finally, the selected product was characterized by determining the content of iron and vitamin C.

Results

The eight prototypes obtained during the development of the beverage formulation accomplished the requirements of the Colombian law. The final prototype had a fruit content of 36.7 wt% and an iron intake value of 40 wt%, in a portion of 250 ml.

Conclusions

the four fruits studied can be used for the development of iron-fortified beverages, with an important contribution of vitamin C, as a nutritional strategy to prevent the deficiencies of this mineral in children.

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