Life saving power of wheat fortification
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| Authors & editors | |
| Publisher | Milling & Grain |
| Year of publication | 2017 October |
| Languages | |
| Medium | Digital |
| Edition | 1 |
| Topics | |
| Tags | |
| Scope & content | By The Food Fortification Initiative Cameroon’s national, mandatory wheat flour fortification program has led to an improvement in iron, zinc, foliate, and vitamin B12 status among women and children in urban areas, according to a study recently published in The Journal of Nutrition. Maternal anaemia prevalence was also significantly lower after fortification. While fortifying flour with vitamin B12 has been shown to have an impact in controlled settings, this is the first evidence that fortifying wheat flour with vitamin B12 is effective in a mandatory, national programme. It is only the second effectiveness study of fortifying wheat flour with zinc in a country with mandatory wheat flour fortification. The first was in Fiji where the percent of women of childbearing age with zinc deficiency dropped from 39.3 percent before fortification to zero percent after fortification. For the Cameroon study, researchers conducted surveys two years before and one year after fortification began. Indicators of inflammation and malaria were included. Read more about: What makes fortification successful? Industrially milled flour entering rural Pakistan Improving nutrition: Solution with high return on investment Pakistan and Mongolia move toward wheat flour fortification Other country commitments made during the Summit |
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