ISSN: 2574-2701
Authors: Tizazu Yirga Bereka*
Hidden hanger is a manifestation of malnutrition which diminishes the health of the people all over the world, its effect is worse when it comes to the developing countries. More than two hundred million people worldwide are suffering from micronutrient deficiency. The risks of micronutrient deficiency are high in vulnerable groups of people such as infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women. Maternal mortality, growth retardation, cognitive impairment, impaired work capacity, goiter and blindness are among the many risks which occur in the population as a result of micronutrients deficiencies in the human body. Among micronutrients vitamin A, iodine and iron are the most nutritionally important nutrients in terms of public health problems and known to affect one third of the world population specifically in developing countries. To alleviate the problem of micronutrient deficiency, adequate consumption of micronutrients in the daily diet is a perquisite. However, meeting the dietary requirements of the human body to mitigate the accompanying micronutrient deficiency in a regular diet is not possible mainly in poor populations due economic deprivation and other many factors. Thus, several strategies including supplementation of food, dietary diversification, nutrition education, public health and food safety measurement and food fortification have been designed to reduce the problem of micronutrient deficiency and improve the nutritional status of the population. Among the strategies, food fortification is found to be very effective to eliminate micronutrient deficiency from the population without noticeably changing the people’s eating style and culture. Accordingly very essential micronutrients such as iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamin A are fortified with different food products mainly staple foods to address the micronutrient deficiency problems in the most vulnerable people groups around the world. Thus, this review concluded that micronutrient fortification of food is indispensable option to meet the dietary requirements and reduce associated health risks of micronutrient deficiencies in most vulnerable groups of the population around the globe without causing significant effect on the people’s economy and eating culture.
Keywords: Fortification; Vitamin A; Iodine; Zinc; Iron
