Mineral nutrients of ‘pazhaya sadham’: A traditional fermented food of Tamil Nadu, India

Traditionally, in Tamil Nadu, the fermented rice is a desirable staple food. It is prepared by overnight soaking of cooked parboiled rice in water. The main complementary role of fermentation is the bioenhancing or bioavailability of essential nutrients especially minerals through the enzymatic reduction of Phytate. In the present study, essential trace elements such as Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Sodium, Potassium and Selnium were determined by using Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) method. The minerals such as Calcium (9.23 mg/100 g) and Sodium (17.18 mg/100 g) are rich in the sample Source 2. The determination of the presence of selenium (0.2 to 0.3 mg/100 g) in this fermented rice can be explained as a preventive mechanism to cancer as natural source of mineral availability