Cargando…

Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification

Adequate zinc nutrition is important for child growth, neurodevelopment, immune function, and normal pregnancy outcomes. Seventeen percent of the global population is estimated to be at risk for inadequate zinc intake. However, zinc is not included in the fortification standards of several low- and...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tarini, Ann, Manger, Mari S., Brown, Kenneth H., Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N., Rowe, Laura A., Grant, Frederick, Black, Robert E., McDonald, Christine M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34203987
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13062051
_version_ 1783713701289787392
author Tarini, Ann
Manger, Mari S.
Brown, Kenneth H.
Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N.
Rowe, Laura A.
Grant, Frederick
Black, Robert E.
McDonald, Christine M.
author_facet Tarini, Ann
Manger, Mari S.
Brown, Kenneth H.
Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N.
Rowe, Laura A.
Grant, Frederick
Black, Robert E.
McDonald, Christine M.
author_sort Tarini, Ann
collection PubMed
description Adequate zinc nutrition is important for child growth, neurodevelopment, immune function, and normal pregnancy outcomes. Seventeen percent of the global population is estimated to be at risk for inadequate zinc intake. However, zinc is not included in the fortification standards of several low- and middle-income countries with mandatory fortification programs, despite data suggesting a zinc deficiency public health problem. To guide policy decisions, we investigated the factors enabling and impeding the inclusion of zinc as a fortificant by conducting in-depth interviews with 17 key informants from 10 countries. Findings revealed the decision to include zinc was influenced by guidance from international development partners and enabled by the assessment of zinc deficiency, mandatory regional food fortification standards which included zinc, the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for zinc fortification, and the low cost of zinc compound commonly used. Barriers included the absence of zinc from regional fortification standards, limited available data on the efficacy and effectiveness of zinc fortification, and the absence of national objectives related to the prevention of zinc deficiency. To promote zinc fortification there is a need to put the prevention of zinc deficiency higher on the international nutrition agenda and to promote large-scale food fortification as a key deficiency mitigation strategy.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8232736
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82327362021-06-26 Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification Tarini, Ann Manger, Mari S. Brown, Kenneth H. Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N. Rowe, Laura A. Grant, Frederick Black, Robert E. McDonald, Christine M. Nutrients Article Adequate zinc nutrition is important for child growth, neurodevelopment, immune function, and normal pregnancy outcomes. Seventeen percent of the global population is estimated to be at risk for inadequate zinc intake. However, zinc is not included in the fortification standards of several low- and middle-income countries with mandatory fortification programs, despite data suggesting a zinc deficiency public health problem. To guide policy decisions, we investigated the factors enabling and impeding the inclusion of zinc as a fortificant by conducting in-depth interviews with 17 key informants from 10 countries. Findings revealed the decision to include zinc was influenced by guidance from international development partners and enabled by the assessment of zinc deficiency, mandatory regional food fortification standards which included zinc, the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for zinc fortification, and the low cost of zinc compound commonly used. Barriers included the absence of zinc from regional fortification standards, limited available data on the efficacy and effectiveness of zinc fortification, and the absence of national objectives related to the prevention of zinc deficiency. To promote zinc fortification there is a need to put the prevention of zinc deficiency higher on the international nutrition agenda and to promote large-scale food fortification as a key deficiency mitigation strategy. MDPI 2021-06-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8232736/ /pubmed/34203987 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13062051 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tarini, Ann
Manger, Mari S.
Brown, Kenneth H.
Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N.
Rowe, Laura A.
Grant, Frederick
Black, Robert E.
McDonald, Christine M.
Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification
title Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification
title_full Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification
title_fullStr Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification
title_full_unstemmed Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification
title_short Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification
title_sort enablers and barriers of zinc fortification; experience from 10 low- and middle-income countries with mandatory large-scale food fortification
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34203987
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13062051
work_keys_str_mv AT tariniann enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT mangermaris enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT brownkennethh enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT mbuyamduduzinn enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT rowelauraa enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT grantfrederick enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT blackroberte enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification
AT mcdonaldchristinem enablersandbarriersofzincfortificationexperiencefrom10lowandmiddleincomecountrieswithmandatorylargescalefoodfortification