Verger Eric, Fortin Sonia, Tamene A., Ashagrie H., Mouquet Rivier Claire, Humblot Christèle. (2025). Ignoring the impact of fermentation could result in substantial misestimation of folate and cobalamin adequacy : a simulation study on Injera consumption in the Ethiopian context. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9 (4), 104581 [5 p.]. ISSN 2475-2991.
Titre du document
Ignoring the impact of fermentation could result in substantial misestimation of folate and cobalamin adequacy : a simulation study on Injera consumption in the Ethiopian context
Current Developments in Nutrition, 2025,
9 (4), 104581 [5 p.] ISSN 2475-2991
B-vitamin content of plant-based foods can be deeply modified by fermentation, particularly the active cobalamin form, which is often
considered to be zero in food composition databases. We simulated the consequences of including or excluding the impact of fermentation in
estimating folate and cobalamin adequacy using secondary data obtained from a survey of 323 women in Ethiopia plus the vitamin content
of injera (fermented flat bread) reported in the literature. As folate content can change during fermentation, the prevalence of inadequacy in
scenarios that include the effect of fermentation was higher (90%) or lower (67%) than in the original data. Our simulation based on data
obtained using cobalamin-producing microorganisms lowered the prevalence of inadequacy to 54%. Ignoring the impact of fermentation
may result in substantial misestimation of folate and cobalamin adequacy in Ethiopia, and it should be evaluated in other contexts in which
fermented foods are consumed as staple foods.
