Plants are the major sources of microelements to populace of the developing world. However,
presence of antinutritional factors limit their optimal utilization. In this paper, antinutritional content and their
effect on bioavailability of Ca, Fe and Zn in Melocia corchorifolia leaves was investigated. The result indicated
that the plant leaves had high level of tannin (4,689.06±2.60 mg/100 g dry weight, DW). The concentration
of other antinutritional factors per/100 g DW is as follows: phytate (88.57 mg), total oxalate (585.00 mg),
soluble oxalate (217.50 mg), cyanide (16.02 mg) and nitrate (74.41 mg). The predicted Ca, Fe and Zn
bioavailability showed that [Oxalate]/[Ca] and [Oxalate]/[(Ca + Mg)] are below the critical level of 2.5 known
to impair calcium bioavailability. Furthermore, [Phytate]/[Ca], [Phytate]/[Fe] and [Phytate]/[Zn] are below the
critical level of 0.5, 0.4 and 1.5 respectively. However, [Ca][Phytate]/[Zn], 16.72, is above the critical level of
0.5, which indicates significant effect of phytate on Zn bioavailability. From the results it can be concluded
that M. corchorifolia leaves could be an important bioresource for Ca and Fe but not for Zn considering the
predicted bioavailability