Fortification: The building blocks of a healthy tomorrow

Diet is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. With the proper nutrients and a balanced diet, an individual not only feels good physically but also mentally. However, poverty remains a major deterrent to having a complete and balanced diet. In the age of technology, we as human beings have found ways to ensure that the proper intake of nutrients is maintained. One such way comes in the form of supplementation, which allows individuals to intake the nutrients that they otherwise are not able to consume daily. Another form of supplementation is food fortification, and by understanding what each individual has in their pantry, we can solve a lot of problems when it comes to a lack of nutrients in their diet.

According to the WHO, fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal health risk. As well as increasing the nutritional content of staple foods, the addition of micronutrients can help to restore the micronutrient content lost during processing.

The WHO adds, fortification is an evidence-informed intervention that contributes to the prevention, reduction, and control of micronutrient deficiencies. It can be used to correct a demonstrated micronutrient deficiency in the general population (mass or large-scale fortification) or in specific population groups (targeted fortification) such as children, pregnant women, and the beneficiaries of social protection programmes. When the vitamins and minerals are not added to the foods during the processing but just before consumption at home or at schools, or in child‐care facilities, it is called point-of-use fortification. In addition to the micronutrient deficiencies, policies and implementation programmes for fortification need to consider alignment with policies for the reduction of diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Such is the case of salt iodization, which builds on sodium consumption and, as a result, needs to consider strategies for sodium intake reduction.

One such project under DC that partakes in fortification is Project Fortify Health. Fortify Health understood that a major way to help in ensuring nutrient intake was to ensure that the food that people consume was already packed with the needed nutrients. In India, even through a vast cultural landscape and socio-economic statuses, one ingredient remains the stand-alone ingredient that is present in every single household. This ingredient is the good old faithful atta. Whether it’s to make rotis, chapattis, parathas, and more, atta remains a staple dish in kitchens across the country. Understanding the cultural importance of atta, Fortify decided to fortify atta with iron to not only tackle the lack of iron in diets but also to deal with anemia, the most common illness in India, with over 14 million cases all over the country. In doing so, Fortify Health has managed to help the lives of millions of Indians all across the country.

Fortification is just one of many ways that we can tackle nutrient deficiencies, and in an age of technology where this is possible, we must be able to understand it and its importance for a healthier future.