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Fortifying Foods To Prevent Disease

FORTIFYING FOODS TO PREVENT DISEASE Proper nutrition and a balanced diet are key to children's well-being, keeping them healthy and supporting cognitive development. A diet without nutrients like iron or folic acid can have serious effects. But in the developing world, the correct nutrients aren't always in children's diets. Adding those nutrients to the available food-even to foods in which they don't occur naturally-can be a huge boost to public health. It's a lesson we learned in the United States long ago, and one we need to apply to the rest of the world. Nutritional Facts According to the Copenhagen Consensus, it would cost only $347 million to provide 80 percent of the developing world with micronutrients in the form of iodized salt, vitamin A, and iron-fortified flour. That fortification would prevent deaths, increase economic output and reduce medical costs, saving the global community about $5 billion. Fortification programs already at work in the United States Fortification programs around the world A3 UNITED STATES-FLUORIDE By adding the tooth-strengthening element to the A1 EGYPT-IRON AND FOLIC ACID water supply, the U.S. government drastically A new program has begun adding iron and folic acid to the local baladi bread, a common household stapie. This improved the dental health of the country, reducing cavities by 27 percent. is helping the more than 50 percent of Egyptian children under the age of 5 who are afflicted with anemia. A3 UNITED STATES-IODINE lodine deficiency is a serious problem for fetal B1 SOUTH AFRICA-FOLIC ACID development-a lack of the element can result in physical and mental retardation. It can also cause By adding folic acid to maize meal and wheat flour, programs in South Africa have reduced neural tube defects (birth defects of the brain and spinal cord) by 30 percent. goiter-a condition marked by an enlarged thyroid. lodine was first added to salt in the United States B A2 CHINA-IRON In China, one pilot program added iron to soy sauce, in 1924, in response to a scientist's attempts to cure goiter. By iodizing table salt, the United States reduced iodine deficiencies, and the incidences of causing rates of anemia to drop by 33 percent. goiter plummeted. A3 UNITED STATES-NIACIN Pellagra-a skin disease that eventually leads to dementia-is caused by a lack of niacin, or vitamin B3. In the early 20th century, pellagra was epidemic in the South, causing thousands of deaths a year, but a program to fortify bread products with niacin reduced the prevalence of the disease to almost zero. A COLLABORATION BETWEEN GOOD AND KISS ME I'M POLISH, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION. SOURCES: BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION; COPENHAGEN CONSENSUS; GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION; THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE CONTROL OF IODINE DEFICIENCY DISORDERS; JOURNAL OF DENTAL RESEARCH.

Fortifying Foods To Prevent Disease

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Proper nutrition and a balanced diet are key to children's well-being, keeping them healthy and supporting cognitive development. A diet without nutrients like iron or folic acid can have serious effe...

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