Multinutrient Supplements

GAIN’s Multinutrient Supplements Initiative seeks to reduce micronutrient deficiencies by 20-30% in 50 million children.
GAIN’s activities in this area focus on increasing access to and use of home fortification products, including multi-nutrient powders and lipid-based nutrient supplements.

Multinutrient powders (MNP) are sachets (looking like small packets of sugar) containing a blend of micronutrients in powder form, which is easily sprinkled onto foods. Any homemade local food can be instantly fortified by adding MNPs.

Lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) provide a range of vitamins and minerals, but unlike most other multinutrient supplements, they also provide energy, protein and essential fatty acids. The best known LNS are the ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUFT) such as Plumpy’nut® that are now widely used in treating severe acute malnutrition. Other LNS products such as Nutributter® provide significantly less daily energy than RUTF but a full complement of micronutrients.

GAIN’s efforts focus on: generating awareness, political will and resources; improving policies; encouraging public and private sector actors to expand access to multinutrient supplements; and expanding the evidence base on the effectiveness of home fortification.