Rice Fortification supplement
Rice fortification is the addition of essential vitamins and minerals to rice, post-harvest, to increase its nutritional value. This offers a unique opportunity to improve the nutrition, health and economic status of a large number of people at a low cost.
More than two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies – or hidden hunger – and consequently the socioeconomic development of affected populations is impacted at a household and a national level through maternal and child mortality, increased illness, mental retardation, and poor cognitive and physical development. Women of reproductive age and their children are the most affected.
The 2008 and 2013 Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition, the 2012 Copenhagen Consenus, and the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement all affirm that multimicronutrient fortification is one of the most cost-effective strategies to reduce malnutrition.
This summary brochure was put together using information from several supplements of Sight and Life Magazine:
Scaling Up Rice Fortification in Asia. Basel: Sight and Life; 2015.
Scaling Up Rice Fortification in Latin America and the Caribbean. Basel: Sight and Life; 2017.
Scaling up Rice Fortification in West Africa. Basel: Sight and Life; 2018.