Fortified foods
Food fortification - the addition of one or more essential micronutrients
to a food for the purpose of preventing or correcting a deficiency of those
nutrients in target populations - is one approach to achieving the objective
of eliminating or substantially reducing important micronutrient deficiencies.
Certain micronutrients are sometimes not naturally present or available in
local foods. For example, a lack of iodine can be due to a deficiency of iodine
in the soil where crops are grown, or, as in the case of other micronutrients
such as iron or vitamin A, due to problems of bioavailability, unbalanced diets
or intestinal parasites.
Key issues involved in fortifying foods include the identification of suitable
vehicles, selection of appropriate fortificant compounds, determination of
technologies to be used in the fortification process, and the implementation
of appropriate monitoring mechanisms. Reliable methods for determining micronutrient
status are also necessary - both in establishing the need for food fortification
and in monitoring its nutritional impact.
See also
Micro-organisms in food > Probiotics |
