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Food Fortification to fight nutritional deficiencies
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Saturday, 08 September, 2007, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Shivani Mehta, Mumbai
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y has become a crisis, 46 % of apparently healthy looking children are suffering from micronutrient malnutrition, also known as "hidden hunger." Changing diet of the people is difficult though desirable. Modifications through fortification can enrich food consumed without the diet undergoing any change.
On September 7, another seminar was jointly organised by the department of Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics College of Home Science, Nirmala Niketan and Kellogg's India Ltd. This marked the end of the 26th National Nutrition Week celebrated this year with the theme being "nutrition for a stronger nation." The topic of discussion was " Micronutrient Malnutrition and Food Fortification."
Micro-nutritional malnutrition not only threatens adults but millions of unborn babies! Undernourished mothers give birth to children deficient in vitamin A, iron, iodine and zinc. This results in increased deaths among children, impaired growth, irreversible mental impairment, and reduced economic development. Moreover, said Consultant Nutritionist Dr G Subhalakshmi, people now all over the world suffer from something greater than just iron deficiency, it is Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA). " IDA affects visual, auditory and cognitive development in children. It impacts the motor movements in children and adolescents and results in adult mortality," she said.
Food based approach has been found to be a better intervention strategy for combating micronutrient malnutrition. "With only about 20 % of iron from heme sources being absorbed and 3 to 5% from non-heme sources being absorbed, the solution to curb IDA lies in fortification of staple foods," says Subhalakshmi. Prevalence of IDA among children under 5 years of age is estimated at 75% in South Asia, 55% in India and 56% in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Fortification of common food staples and condiments with micronutrients is one of the key strategies to control micronutrient malnutrition and should be done judiciously to maximize its benefits for the people. Rapid urbanisation has led to both literates and non-literates feeding unhealthy refined foods to their children. Sonal Mody stressed on changing eating habits, altering behaviour and breast-feeding infants for healthy living in her discourse on "influence of lifestyle and eating habits on micronutrient status". She said, " vegetables and fruits are a healthy power house of vitamins and minerals. They provide energy to the body". She asserted breakfast to be an important meal of the day because the digestive system is most active then absorbing maximum nutrients. She advised against binging as it leads to Anorexia and Bulimia, while smoking affects Vitamin C absorption and alcohol affects B Complex (B1+Folate). She also said that toxicity increases in the body with high dosages of Vitamin A, D, E, C, pyridoxine and Iodine. Thus everything should be taken in moderation.
" I love coke," announced Dr J S Pai, the Executive Director of PFNDAI. He continued saying, " No food is junk food, but there needs to be a balance". Nutrients need to be well balanced with micronutrients. He professed the use of Iodized salt, cereals fortified with iron and milk, margarine and oils enriched with vitamin A. He said refining leads to a loss in micronutrients, while fortification helps to restore them. Dr CL Nagarsekar, Consultant Food Technologists ( India and Overseas) talked about how it was possible to process and market fortified, palatable and hygienic foods at a cost affordable to the target audience and said that the government should also make efforts towards fortification or enriching of food.
Fortificants used to enrich food are antioxidants, bioactive peptides, micronutrients- vitamins and minerals, and macronutrients -proteins. Although Dr Sahyog Jamdar, Scientific officer Food Technology department- BARC suggested fish, chicken intestine and poultry vicera dumped in the unorganized sector as a good fortification solution to food. However a question of acceptance of these among vegetarians still lies unanswered.
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