Development of salt double fortified with iodine and iron for the prevention and cure of micronutrient deficiency diseases

Micronutrient deficiency diseases adversely affect the health of some 2 billion people, mostly in the developing world. Deficiencies of iodine, iron and vitamin A have devastating effects. The Copenhagen Consensus in 2008 listed iron fortification among the 3 most important problems in development. While micronutrients are inexpensive, their delivery is often thwarted by technological, social and economic problems. As salt is universally consumed, the simultaneous delivery of iron, iodine and other micronutrients through salt promises to be an effective solution. The objective of the research program was to develop an effective, safe and economical process that prevents iron-iodine interactions that previously resulted in catastrophic losses of iodine. Microencapsulation of either the iron or the iodine containing compound can provide a physical barrier to the migration and redox reaction of iron and iodine in the presence of moisture on salt. In this program we have developed, scaled-up and tested two successful approaches to the production of salt double fortified with iodine and iron.