Role of Food Fortification in Combating Micronutrient Deficiencies

Food fortification involves adding essential vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed foods during processing, improving their nutritional value. This practice is safe, cost-effective, and crucial for preventing micronutrient deficiencies, which pose serious health risks. Various methods, including large-scale fortification, biofortification, and point-of-use fortification, are employed to address nutrient deficiencies and promote overall health.

An Overview of Food Fortification

• Food Fortification: It is the practice of adding vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed foods during processing to increase their nutritional value and is a proven, safe and cost-effective strategy for improving diets and for the prevention and control of micronutrient deficiencies.  The main fortification vehicles are as follows:
• Large-Scale Food Fortification (LSFF): It is the addition of micronutrients during processing to commonly consumed foods such as salt  (folic acid), flour (folic acid), oil  (vitamin A), sugar  (vitamin A), milk (vitamin A & D, iron, calcium and folic acid), and condiments. These can be categorised as:
  • Mandatory: initiated and regulated by the government- fortified flour and iodised salt.
  • Voluntary:  Food processors add nutrients to the foods of their own volition but are governed by regulatory limits. 
• Biofortification: It is the process in which food crops with improved nutritional value are grown, and these projects mainly concentrate on boosting iron, zinc, amino acids and provitamin A carotenoid in different food crops. 
  • Examples: include iron biofortification of rice, beans, maize and sweet potato; zinc biofortification of wheat, rice, beans, sweet potato and corn; and Vitamin A biofortification of sweet potatoes, corn and cassava.
• Point-of-Use or Home Fortification:  It is the addition of vitamins and minerals to food that has been cooked and is ready to be eaten, achieved by sprinkling micronutrient powders (MNPs). 
  • MNPs are single-dose packets containing multiple vitamins and minerals in powder form that can be sprinkled onto food without affecting the taste or colour.
• Fortified Foods Available In India: Wheat Flour, Rice, Double Fortified Salt, Edible Oil and Milk

Need for Food Fortification

• Micronutrient Malnutrition: Also known as hidden hunger, it poses a serious health risk.
  • Results from an unbalanced diet, limited food variety, or food unavailability.
  • Nutrients are often lost during food processing.
• Micronutrient Deficiencies in India: High prevalence of deficiencies in Vitamin A, Iodine, Iron, and Folic Acid.
  • Leads to conditions like Night Blindness, Goitre, Anaemia, and birth defects.
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) Statistics: As per Latest FSSAI data, 
  • 58.4% of children (6-59 months) are anaemic.
  • 53.1% of women of reproductive age are anaemic.
  • 35.7% of children under 5 are underweight.
• Proven Global Intervention: Fortification is a globally recognized and effective method to combat micronutrient deficiencies in populations.
• Benefits of Food Fortification: Ensures safe and nutritious food intake.
  • Addresses nutrient deficiencies effectively.
  • Complements other nutrition improvement strategies like diet diversification and supplementation.

Strategic Advantages of Food Fortification

• High Benefit-to-Cost Ratio: Copenhagen Consensus estimates show that every rupee spent on fortification yields 9 rupees in benefits to the economy.
  • Initial investment required for equipment and vitamin/mineral premix, but overall costs are low.
• Wide Consumption Reach: Nutrients added to staple foods, widely consumed by large populations, improving health on a large scale.
• Safe Method of Nutrition Improvement: Addition of micronutrients poses no health risks, quantities added are small and within Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA), regulated for safe consumption.
• Cost-Effectiveness and Socio-Cultural Acceptance: A cost-effective intervention that doesn’t require changes in eating patterns or habits.
  • Socio-culturally acceptable way to deliver nutrients to people.
• Preservation of Food Characteristics: Fortification doesn’t alter taste, aroma, or texture of food, ensuring consumer satisfaction.

Conclusion

• Food fortification stands as a proven global intervention to combat micronutrient deficiencies, especially prevalent in countries like India. 
• With its wide consumption reach, safety, cost-effectiveness, and preservation of food characteristics, fortification offers strategic advantages in improving public health. 
• The development of biofortified crops by institutions like the Indian Council of Agricultural Research showcases ongoing efforts to enhance nutrient levels in staple foods, ensuring a healthier future for populations worldwide.