Studies indicated that by mimicking ways the human body absorbs naturally occurring nano-sized particles, scientists could boost amounts and rates of iron assimilation, said Dr Nuno Faria, research scientist, Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research.
Iron deficiency affects 1.2bn people in the developed world and iron supplements often deliver inadequate amounts or have side effects, said Faria. But she added: "We modified the mineral by a synthetic process that mimics the behaviour of the gut and makes it biovailable."
The process involved the incorporation of dietary ligands that stopped crystallisation of mineral particles, making them easier to assimilate and could be applied to other minerals, she said. "We are getting close to near-equivalent food-grade iron sulphate in smaller sizes that are better taken up."
Professor Nissim Garti of the Centre for Nanotechnology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem also described breakthroughs in nanoemulsions to increase the biovailability of important nutrients.
Garti had led the formation of the start-up business NutraLease to commercialise developments in this area.
They included modified fluid lyotropic liquid crystals, in which antioxidants such as lycopene or vitamin E and phytosterols could be dissolved. "They can be water soluble, oil soluble or water-in-oil soluble," said Garti.
NutraLease was also working on nano-sized self-assembled structured liquids, or modified microemulsions, which enabled the stomach to more readily assimilate components ranging from flavours and antioxidants to enzymes and heart-booster coenzyme CoQ10.
They differ from standard macro emulsions in that they are more heat stable and resistant to oxidation.