Biofortification of staple crops has the potential to increase nutrient intakes and improve health outcomes. Despite program data on the number of farming households reached with and growing biofortified crops, information on the coverage of biofortified foods in the general population is often lacking. Such information is needed to ascertain potential for impact and identify bottlenecks to parts of the impact pathway.
Dietary intake data are required to design, monitor, and evaluate nutrition programmes and policies; however, current dietary assessment methods are complex, time consuming, and costly. Recently, GAIN developed a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQ-FFQ) that can be used in coverage surveys to estimate the amount of fortified and biofortified foods consumed and their contributions to nutrient intakes.
Food fortification is implemented to increase intakes of specific nutrients in the diet, but contributions of fortified foods to nutrient intakes are rarely quantified.
The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming our world. We are seeing rapid changes in areas such as health care delivery, food security, agriculture, and international aid prioritization. In addition to the immediate impact to health and society, the COVID-19 pandemic may result in significant short- and long-term disruptions to food systems.
Information on the coverage and consumption of biofortified foods is critical to assess the performance and potential for impact of programmes. The objective of this study was to develop and test methods for assessing the coverage and consumption of biofortified foods and their contribution to nutrient intakes of children and women of reproductive age.
We are pleased to announce 8 through 13 November, 2020 as the new dates for the Micronutrient Forum 5th Global Conference , 8 and 9 November 2020 as the new dates for the Second Global Summit on Food Fortification in Bangkok, Thailand.
Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) is a cost-effective intervention that is widely implemented, but there is scope to further increase its potential. To identify gaps and opportunities, we first accessed the Global Fortification Data Exchange (GFDx) to identify countries that could benefit from new fortification programs.
Food fortification, the addition of vitamins and minerals to foods to make them more nutritious, is proven to have long-lasting positive effects on people’s lives by reducing micronutrient deficiencies. No other technology offers as large an opportunity to improve lives at such low cost and in such a short time
Pellagra. Beriberi. You likely haven’t heard of these debilitating diseases: they were virtually eradicated more than 70 years ago by adding essential vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed staple foods and condiments. One of the most common forms of fortification, salt iodisation, is now practiced in more than 160 countries and is credited with preventing 750 million cases of goitre over the past 25 years.
The FACT provides details on how to plan, design, implement, analyse, and report a FACT survey. It was designed to help stakeholders collect, analyse, and synthesise standardised data on quality, coverage, and consumption of fortified foods, and fills a gap in the availability of standardised tools to generate information to understand how well programmes are working and how to improve them.
