A novel iron fortifier prepared through quinoa protein peptides hydrolyzed with different proteases.

Iron deficiency is a widespread global issue that leads to nutritional disorders and iron deficiency anemia (IDA). In this study, quinoa protein peptide (QPP) was selected to design a novel iron supplement, quinoa protein peptide‑iron chelate (QPP-Fe). Notably, QPP with a molecular weight of <2000 Da, prepared using Alcalase, exhibited the highest iron chelation ratio of 79.