Iron deficiency is one of the leading risk factors for disability and death worldwide, affecting an estimated 2 billion people. Nutritional iron deficiency arises when physiological requirements cannot be met by iron absorption from diet. Dietary iron bioavailability is low in populations consuming monotonous plant-based diets. The high prevalence of iron deficiency in the developing world has ...

Home fortification of complementary foods with iron and other micronutrients is a low-cost strategy for filling nutrient gaps in the diets of infants and young children, but there has been uncertainty about the safety of universal provision of iron via home fortification in malaria-endemic areas. Based on the current understanding of the potential mechanisms of adverse effects of iron, the risk...

Despite efforts to tackle folate deficiency and Neural Tube Defects (NTDs) through folic acid fortification, its implementation is still lacking where it is needed most, highlighting the need for studies that evaluate the effectiveness of folic acid fortified wheat flour in a poor, rural, high-risk, NTD region of China. One of the most affected regions, Shanxi Province, was selected as a case s...

background: several studies have examined the effects of folic acid fortification on the occurrence of orofacial clefts. this study was carried out to evaluate the impact of flour fortification with folic acid on oral clefts in northern iran.   methods : in this hospital based study from march 2006 to september 2009, we screened the total number of live births at all hospitals in golestan provi...

This issue of the Journal includes a comprehensive biochemical assessment of folate status in a representative sample of the American population in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2000 (1). This survey represents the largest, but not the first, documentation of folate status since the mandatory folic acid fortification of flour and grain products was initiated...