Preface —M. C. Latham, H. Mehansho, and F. S. Solon............................................................................... S65 Overview: Hidden hunger and the role of public-private partnership —M. C. Latham .......................... S67 Combating hidden hunger: The role of international agencies —N. Dalmiya and W. Schultink ............. S69 Vitamin A deficiency disorders in children ...

BACKGROUND The WHO recommends assessing food and nutrient intakes to design food-fortification programs, but nationally representative dietary data are seldom available in low-income countries. OBJECTIVE Prior to initiation of food fortification in Cameroon, we measured intake of vitamin A (VA) and fortifiable foods (vegetable oil, sugar, wheat flour, and bouillon cube) to simulate the effect...

BACKGROUND Mandatory folic acid fortification of cereal-grain products was introduced in the United States in 1998 to decrease the risk that women will have children with neural tube defects. OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine the effect of folic acid fortification on concentrations of serum and red blood cell (RBC) folate, serum vitamin B-12, and plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and me...

BACKGROUND Food fortification is one approach for addressing anemia, but information on program effectiveness is limited. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the impact of Costa Rica's fortification program on anemia in women aged 15-45 y and children aged 1-7 y. DESIGN Reduced iron, an ineffective fortificant, was replaced by ferrous fumarate in wheat flour in 2002, and ferrous bisglycinate was added t...

After iron deficiency, zinc deficiency is the major micronutrient deficiency in developing countries, and staple food fortification is an effective strategy to prevent and improve it among at-risk-populations. No action has been taken to reduce zinc deficiency via flour fortification so far in Iran, and little is known about the influence of zinc fortification of flour on serum zinc and the iro...

BACKGROUND Pasta is considered as an effective carrier of prohealth ingredients in food fortification. The aim of this study was to examine the changes of antioxidant potential of wheat pasta affected by fortification with powdered parsley leaves. A special attention was paid to effectiveness of fortification in the light of proteinphenolic interactions. METHODS To improve antioxidant activit...

Since the introduction of folic acid fortification of flour 10 y ago, an initiative to consider fortifying flour with vitamin B-12 has gained momentum in the United States. The impetus for this move stems from several considerations, including some evidence that a proportion of neural tube defect pregnancies may be the result of vitamin B-12 rather than folate deficiency. However, no interventi...

The effectiveness of flour fortification in reducing anaemia prevalence is equivocal. The goal was to utilise the existing national-level data to assess whether anaemia in non-pregnant women was reduced after countries began fortifying wheat flour, alone or in combination with maize flour, with at least Fe, folic acid, vitamin A or vitamin B12. Nationally representative anaemia data were identi...

BACKGROUND The Uzbekistan 1996 Demographic Health Survey reported 60.4% of women of reproductive age (WRA) had low hemoglobin concentrations (<120 g/L), and anemia was an important public health problem. Fortification of wheat flour was identified as an appropriate intervention to address anemia due to the ubiquitous consumption of wheat flour. A National Flour Fortification Program (NFFP) was ...

BACKGROUND In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 42% of children are at risk for vitamin A deficiency, and control of vitamin A deficiency will prevent more than 600,000 child deaths annually. In the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), an estimated 54.3% of preschool-age children are vitamin A deficient and 13% of pregnant women have night blindness. OBJECTIVE To project the achievem...