Addressing pandemic micronutrient deficiencies through flour fortification
Full details
| Authors & editors | |
| Publisher | Milling & Grain |
| Year of publication | 2017 December |
| Languages | |
| Medium | Digital |
| Edition | 1 |
| Topics | |
| Tags | |
| Scope & content | By the International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IFSBH) Flour fortification involves adding essential vitamins and minerals to flour as it is milled, which in turn makes foods prepared with fortified flour more nutritious. Iron, zinc, folic acid, and other B vitamins are commonly added to wheat and maize flours. The potential for fortified foods to help address global nutritional deficiencies has long been acknowledged, with fortification strategies increasingly being prioritised as our interest and understanding of micronutrient malnutrition, and its fundamental role in the overall burden of global disease, has developed. Almost 20 years ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) identified iron, iodine, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies as being ‘among the world’s most serious health risk factors, ’ (World Health Report, 2000). More than two billion people worldwide are now affected by micronutrient deficiencies. Contrary to popular belief, these dietary deficiencies are a global public health concern, not just an issue unique to developing countries, although undoubtedly this is where their burden is most keenly felt. In an ideal world, everyone would eat a well-balanced, healthy diet, rich in all essential micronutrients to maintain good health. However, this ideal is over simplistic, and in reality a complex combination of social, environmental and economic factors make this basic prerequisite for good health unachievable for many. Read more about: Smarter Futures Prevention is the best cure Achieving an effective public health impact 27th International Conference for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Looking forward |
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