Alimentary fortification using iron

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.200933.3.3

Abstract

Iron deficiency is the most common and widely distributed nutritional clutter in the world, and it is a problem of public health in
developing countries. Iron-deficiency is the result of negative balance of this mineral throughout time. Iron-deficiency anemia is the most serious
type of iron deficiency, occurring after a long period of deficiency of this element, when supplies had already been depleted and after the
reduction of biochemical iron. Anemia is defined as a level of blood hemoglobin below -2DP for a population normal regarding other aspects
and with equal sex and age. The values that define anemia vary with physiological state, age, sex, pregnancy and altitude and are defined by the
World Health Organization (OMS) as Hb <11g/dL for less than six-years old children and pregnant women; Hb < 11,5g/dL for children from 6 to
11 years old, Hb < 12g/dL for children from 6 to 14 years and women; Hb < 12g/dL for women more than 15 years old, non pregnant women
and Hb < 13g/dL for adult men. Fortification must be an instrument for not only correct deficiencies but also to guarantee the population an
adequate supply of micronutrients, especially for the pediatric group, in which necessities are relatively higher due to growth. On the importance
of this the World Bank mentioning food fortification as a strategy for combating micronutrient deficiency in the world, says that “no other
technology offers a chance of improving lives for so low a cost and in so short a time span”.