Food fortification crucial for India to battle anaemia, micronutrient malnutrition: Experts

Food fortification is crucial for India to battle anaemia and micronutrient malnutrition, public health and nutrition experts have said.
The government is planning to fortify the rice distributed to the poor via different schemes such as midday meals in a bid to address the problem of malnutrition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced that whether through ration shops or the midday meal scheme, the rice made available under every government programme will be fortified by 2024.
According to experts, ignoring serious implications of micronutrient deficiencies and failing to incorporate essential micronutrients in everyday diets can have irreversible consequences for not only physical health but mental development.
“Studies show that micronutrient deficiency is not just closely linked with poor immunity and congenital disorders such as neural tube defects (NTDs), but also cognitive development, school concentration capacities and work output,” said Dr Sheila C Vir, senior nutrition specialist and Director, Public Health Nutrition and Development Centre, New Delhi.
“Large-scale food fortification interventions have the ability to improve functional health outcomes and nutritional status of populations across India,” she added.
Dr R Sankar, Director of The Indian Nutrition Initiative, said a case-controlled study was conducted in 2019 in Gujarat and it found that integrating micronutrient fortified rice into the midday meal programmes over eight months significantly reduced anaemia prevalence by 10 per cent and improved cognitive score by 11.3 points among school students aged between 6 and 12 years.
“The evidence widely available from global and Indian data, including WHO, suggests that food fortification is an effective preventive strategy and helps to increase micronutrient intake.
Fortification standards need to be tailored to a country’s context based on the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies,” said Sankar. “FSSAI follows a rigorous process to define standards for fortification.
The standards will be and should be revised based on monitoring data,” added Sankar. “The technology is simple and has been developed globally as well as by a Department of Biotechnology-IIT Kharagpur partnership.
The PDS food supply system can easily integrate it and it benefits small millers as well,” Dr Rajesh Kapur, former additional secretary/scientist, Department of Biotechnology in Ministry of Science and Technology who worked on the technology said.
India introduced mandatory fortification of hydrogenated oil (Vanaspati) with vitamin A in 1953 and the iodization of salt in 1962 as a region-specific programme.
But since the early 1990s, universal salt iodization is mandatory for edible salt. Fortification of rice, edible oils, and milk has gained momentum in recent years.
Across many states, double fortification of salt with iron and iodine, a local innovation from the National Institute of Nutrition, is used in midday meals, the ICDS, and made available via the Public Distribution System to vulnerable populations. (PTI)