Principles of using nutritional fortification(2)

In terms of nutrition fortification technology, the principles that should be followed are

1. the fortification process and processing equipment must be practical and readily available at low cost to ensure that the nutrients to be fortified are added to the food smoothly.

2. the greater the coverage of the consumption of the carrier food, the better (especially for rural and poor populations where nutrient deficiencies are most prevalent), and such food should be industrially produced; the consumption of the carrier food should be relatively stable so that nutrient additions can be calculated more accurately, while excess intake (e.g. soft drinks, snacks) can be avoided.

3. The fortification process does not alter the original organoleptic properties of the food, and no significant loss of nutrients occurs during further cooking and processing.

4. Fortification techniques and methods should depend on the nature of the product type. Fortification of flour, for example, using the spray method or direct mixing method, first the nutrient fortification into a higher content of the base material, and then the base material and hundreds of times the ordinary flour to mix well. For the fortification of instant noodles (fried), nutritional fortificants (e.g. fat-soluble VA, VD, VB, water-soluble VB1, VB2, VC, nikonic acid, minerals, etc.) can be added to various seasoning packages.

For the fortification of hanged noodles, the nutrient fortification can be processed in the centre of the noodles, (like a pencil core being wrapped in the middle of a pencil), so that the nutrient loss is significantly reduced when boiling. Some vitamins are fat-soluble, which limits their application in hydrophilic systems. Modern techniques can be used to make them water diffusible, so that their application can be further expanded.

How to choose fortified foods for babies

There is a wide range of calcium-containing biscuits, iron-containing sweets, milk with vitamin A and vitamin D, as well as lysine bread and lysine pasta on the market. How do you choose? First of all, we advocate that children should be given a variety of foods provided by nature (i.e. natural foods) and that meals should be arranged according to the appropriate types, quantities and ratios, so that children can develop good habits of not being picky and not being partial in their eating, and so that they can obtain balanced nutrients from a comprehensive and reasonable range of foods. Lysine is sufficient if parents are careful to give their children good quality protein, i.e. lean meat, fish and soya products. If iron, vitamin A and vitamin D are not sufficient in general food, consider supplementing with medication or from fortified foods. If your child has iron deficiency anaemia or low haemoglobin, foods containing iron can be consumed, and if they have rickets or low calcium twitches, foods containing vitamin A and vitamin D can be consumed. 

However, before choosing for your child, be sure to find out what the food is fortified with, the amount of fortified nutrients and the daily dosage to avoid over-eating and causing poisoning, or imbalance between various nutrients, which may affect the body's digestion, utilisation and absorption of nutrients. If necessary, seek nutritional advice from your doctor.