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Symposium on food fortification looks at measures against malnutrition
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Wednesday, 06 May, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d A symposium on “Food Fortification in Rajasthan: Enriching Foods, Enriching Lives” was organised in Jaipur by Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in collaboration with Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) recently.
The objective of the symposium was to highlight the lessons learnt during the last five years of extensive work done for scaling up health of the country’s people and fight against the issues of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency prevailing among the large sections of population.
In India, almost 70% of women, girl children and adolescent girls suffer from iron deficiency anaemia. Deficiencies of other micronutrients like vitamin A, riboflavin, folic acid and iodine are rampant. More recent studies suggest deficiencies of zinc, vitamin B12 and vitamin D as well. Maternal malnutrition is the major cause of Low Birth Weight (LBW). Almost a third of babies in India are born with LBW (<2.5 kg). Thus, to enhance the health of Indian women, girl children and adolescent girls, fortified food is key.
The Technical Reports of National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) and the Consumer Expenditure Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on food intake showed that the median intake of vitamin A was grossly deficient as compared to the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) in all the 10 states and the proportion of households consuming<50% of RDA ranged from 75-86%. Also, the median intake of dietary folate was much lower than the RDA and the proportion of households consuming >50% RDA of dietary folate was just about 17%- 25%. Several recent studies have highlighted the existence of widespread Vitamin D deficiency (about 80%) among the overall population at all ages and in both sexes, residing both in rural and urban India.
The Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, 68th round has indicated that the per capita consumption of wheat, oil and milk is higher than the national average in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The per capita expenditure on milk and milk products in these two states is relatively high and penetration of edible oil is almost universal. Hence these staple foods: wheat flour, oil, and milk become the best foods which can be enriched / fortified with vitamins and minerals so that all the population groups can benefit from the added vitamins and minerals, when they consume these fortified wheat flour, oil, and milk, on a daily basis.
Dr R Sankar, GAIN's country manager and senior adviser, South Asia, added: "India has very high levels of micronutrient malnutrition, which impacts the quality of life of all. Nation's health is paramount and hence and it is important to address micronutrient malnutrition holistically. Management of these deficiencies warrants public health interventions and strategies. Food fortification is one such complementary strategy. By using the model of public-private partnerships, we can bring many diverse actors from the public and private sectors into a coalition, to work on improving nutrition through food fortification in a way that reflects local culture and conditions, fosters innovation and entrepreneurship, and works to create self-sustaining cycles of improved health, growth and development."
GAIN has been working in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, with various stakeholders, to support Large Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) projects, fortifying staple foods like wheat flour, edible oils, milk and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) supplementary nutrition and the mid-day meals, served through centralised kitchens. Over 500,000 MT of edible oil, 540,000 MT of milk and 360,000 MT of wheat flour is being fortified in MP and Rajasthan, and is reaching over 90 million people every year.
Dr Marc Van Ameringen, executive director, GAIN, stated: “Food safety is a basic human right. The food on our table needs to be produced, processed and marketed safely to protect the consumer and improve nutrition. GAIN builds partnerships to increase access to the missing nutrients in diets necessary for people, communities and economies to be stronger and healthier. By building alliances that deliver impact at scale, we believe that we can eliminate malnutrition within our lifetimes."
Dr S D Gupta, president, IIHMR, said, “Rajasthan government in its recent budget has announced provisioning of fortified wheat flour, oil and double fortified salt through PDS. Since last 41/2 years, GAIN and IIHMR have reached 8 major oil refineries like Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, Bunge India Pvt. Ltd, Mahesh Edible Oil Ltd and Ajanta Soya Ltd producing nearly 2,40,000 metric tonne of fortified edible oil annually; Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation through 22 Saras milk unions and Lotus Dairy processing more than 5 lakh metric tonne of fortified milk annually; more than 20 major roller flour mills producing more than 1 lakh metric tonne of fortified wheat flour annually and had reached more than a million school children daily through the centralised kitchens like AkshyaPatra, Adamya Chetna Foundation etc., preparing and serving fortified soy dal analogue to address the issue of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency in the state.”
'The cost of fortification worked out to approximately Rs 0.05 – 0.10 per kg/wheat flour and oil and about Rs 0.02 per kg for milk. Staple food fortifications are therefore very cost effective, and have a great potential of enriching the nutritional quality of food and in turn, improving the health of all, educability of children, and work performance and productivity in adults. Improved nutrition through food fortification enriches the life of millions of children; by giving them a healthy start to life which they rightly deserve. All that is required is a will to harness the potential for Staple Food Fortification, implement and scale it up,” said Deepti Gulati, GAIN's manager India, programme delivery.
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