Vitamin A fortification

Bagriansky, J Ranum, P. Vitamin A Fortification ofPL480 Vegetable Oil. Washington, DC, USA SUSTAIN 1998. 

Vitamin A is manufactured by Hoffmaim-La Roche (Switzerland), BASF (Germany), and Rhc ne-Poulenc (France), as well as by some smaller suppliers in India, China, and Russia. The worldwide production is estimated to be 2500 to 3000 metric tons. About three-quarters of this production is for animal feed the remainder is for food fortification and pharmaceuticals (qv). The main trade names of feed products are Rovimix, Lutavit, and Microvit. Prices depend on appHcation forms and are approximately 60— 70/10 lU retinol (1995) ie, 200— 233/10 RE. One lU is equivalent to 0.300 )lg of aH-Zra/ j -retinol and 1 RE is equivalent to 1 ) g of all-retinol. 

Iron-deficiency anaemia results from a discrepancy between iron availability and the amount required for production of red blood cells. The causes of acquired iron deficiency in so-called underdeveloped and developed countries must be differentiated. In underdeveloped countries, the main causes of iron deficiency are (a) the poor availability of iron in the diet due to low haem and high fibre and phytate content (D Souza et ah, 1987), and (b) chronic blood loss due to hookworm, schistosomiasis and malaria (Stoltzfus et ah, 1997 Olsen et ah, 1998 Dreyfuss et ah, 2000). Inflammation and vitamin A deficiency often interfere with the above causes of iron deficiency, causing a mixed type of anaemia. In underdeveloped countries diet improvement, iron fortification of natural foods and eradication of parasites will have a much higher impact than will refinement of diagnostic procedures and therapy of iron-deficiency anaemia. 

While the human body can remove an excess of any water-soluble vitamin, excesses of fat-soluble vitamins are more serious. Early arctic explorers discovered that the Inuit regarded seal liver and polar bear liver as taboo and must not be eaten. Those explorers who ignored this advice risked retinol poisoning as the livers of both these species are rich in retinol (vitamin A) that can not be excreted. The effects of retinol poisoning are extremely unpleasant. It is for this reason that fortification with fat-soluble vitamins is not likely to be undertaken. 

The fortification of these milk products with vitamin A is endorsed by the American Medical Association, with the concurrence of the Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council and the Expert Panel on Food Safety and Nutrition of the Institute of Food Technologists (AMA 1982). The fortification of dried skim milk with vitamin A is viewed by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization (WHO 1977) as an important measure to combat vitamin A deficiency in developing countries, where 20,000 to 100,000 children yearly develop blindness from a lack of vitamin A in their diets (DeLuca et al. 1979). 

As /3-carotene also has some vitamin A activity it is sometimes added to products for fortification as well as colourant purposes. If this is the case, the methods outlined above can be used. A more recent reference has used a similar method to look at carotenoid isomers in carrot juices and fortified drinks (Marx et al., 2000). 

The only vitamins likely to be found in unfortified soft drinks are vitamin C (either added as an antioxidant or deriving from fruit materials) and vitamin A precursor (beta-carotene, added as a colour). However, soft drinks provide a good medium for vitamin fortification, the limitations being solubility (for fat-soluble vitamins), flavour impairment (for example the meaty notes of thiamine) and stability. 

Bartholomew, B.P., Ogden, L.V. 1990. Effect of emulsifiers and fortification methods on light stability of vitamin A in milk. J. Dairy Sci. 73, 1485-1488. 

In Norway there is essentially no fortification of foodstuffs (exception iron in goat cheese, vitamin A and vitamin D in margarine, and iodine in salt). 

The mandatory fortification of margarine with Vitamin A is accomplished by the addition of p-carotene (pro-Vitamin A) and/or Vitamin A esters. The carotene level is adjusted for the desired color and the colorless esters (acetate, palmitate, etc.) are used to standardize the vitamin content. Addition of Vitamin D is optional. Fortification with Vitamin E is not permitted by the U.S. margarine standard, but recently some spreads fortified with Vitamin E have appeared in the marketplace in the United States, and fortification of both margarines and spreads has recently been done in Europe. The naturally occurring Vitamin E content of vegetable oil margarines available in the United States has been reported (227). 

Wegmuller R, Zimmermann MB, Buhr VG, Windhab EJ, Hurrel R (2006) Development, stability, and sensory testing of microcapsules containing iron, iodine and vitamin A for nse in food fortification. Journal of... 

Dary, O Mora, JO. Food fortification to reduce Vitamin A deficiency International Vitamin A Consultative Group Recommendations. JNutr, 2002 132 2927S-33S. 

A lack of vitamin A creates the conditions for blindness (Rahi et al., 1995). Adding vitamin A to food through fortification, or making it exist in its precursor form in the... 

Fortification of inexpensive commonly consumed food vehicles (dairy products and margarine) with vitamin A has been an effective approach applied since the first quarter of this century in the western world (Bauernfeind, 1980). In... 

Solon, F. S. (1981). Pilot MSG Fortification for the Control of Vitamin A Deficiency. Technical Report of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines. (Mimeographed.)... 

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