[Application and significance of fortification in prevention of micronutrient deficiency-induced diseases]

Fortification is defined as adding of one or more essential elements to food article, regardless of whether it has been already added to food or not, in order to prevent or correct deficiency of one or more nutrients in the general population or specific population group. Food fortification with minerals and vitamins helps eliminate diseases such as goiter, rickets, beriberi, and pellagra. Significant results have been also achieved in prevention of anemia and vitamin A deficiency. The aforementioned deficiencies can be prevented and eliminated by means of appropriate and diverse nutrition and supplementation of deficient micronutrients, but on the national level, food fortification is the best solution. Two basic conditions for the application of fortification are the following: that the food article is in wide use and that it is cheap (available). The purpose of our paper was to show the results achieved by means of fortification in various countries in order to build up the basis for similar propositions in our country (Serbia and Montenegro). Owing to fortification in Asia, the number of cretinism cases has been reduced by half while sugar fortification significantly reduced the number of children with vitamin A deficiency. For more than 50 years, flour fortification with iron in order to prevent its deficiency and anemia, has been successfully applied in the United States and Canada, and as of recently in some countries of Africa and South America. The analysis of the results leads to the conclusion that food fortification has had beneficial health effects in the communities where it has been applied.