Effect of iron and folic acid fortification on in vitro bioavailability and starch hydrolysis in ready-to-eat parboiled rice

•Iron and folic acid fortified ready-to-eat rice produced by brown rice parboiling.•Effects of fortificant concentration and milling duration on bioaccessibility.•Bioaccessiblity increases with concentration and decreases with milling time.•Adequate in vitro bioaccessiblity and bioavailability observed for both fortificants.•Decrease in starch hydrolysis with fortification and low to intermediate GI observed. Iron (Fe) and folic acid (FA) fortified parboiled rice was produced by applying ‘brown rice parboiling’ method. The effect of milling and the effectiveness of fortification were tested in relation to the amount of bioaccessible and bioavailable form of Fe and FA. An in vitro starch hydrolysis assay was employed to assess the effect on simulated glycaemic index (GI). The % bioaccessiblity of Fe and FA in the unmilled fortified rice were in the range of 57.6–65.8%, and 55.1–91.9%, respectively. The % bioavailability in the unfortified parboiled rice was negligible as compared to Fe (14.7–32.1%) and FA (13.5–27.5%) fortified rice. The GI of unfortified and fortified parboiled rice samples was in the range of 56–69, which was lower than the raw rice. The results demonstrated that this approach can be a novel and rapid method to produce micronutrient enhanced ready-to-eat rice.