The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks iron deficiency among the world’s top 10 most serious health problems, affecting 4–5 billion people. More than one billion people suffer from the severe form, iron deficiency anaemia (IDA).
Iron deficiency undermines physical health, impairs mental development and increases the risks for pregnant women during childbirth. There are also serious socio-economic consequences. In the worst affected countries, iron deficiency is responsible for losses of up to 2percent of GDP.
Focus on food fortification
Food fortification, adding vitamins and minerals to the foods that people eat every day, has proved to be an efficient, cost-effective way to deliver micronutrients, such as iron, to mass populations.
Höganäs participates in GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition) and was one of the charter members of the GAIN Business Alliance for Food Fortification (BAFF) in 2005. Supporters of GAIN include UNICEF, the World Bank, WHO, World Food Programme, US Aid and the Micronutrient Initiative. Other companies involved in BAFF include Unilever, Heinz, Danone, DSM, BASF, Tetra Pak and Coca-Cola.
Höganäs was represented at a BAFF meeting in London, where it was announced that GAIN was to receive US$20million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for nutrition programmes in ten developing countries.
GAIN, a non-profit-making foundation, is developing a 10-year strategy to achieve a number of set targets that involve reducing the prevalence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies by reaching people with fortified food. The aim is to achieve results at a cost of less than 25UScents per person, per year.
“GAIN has very specific goals and we felt it was one of the more suitable organisations for the company to support in efforts to combat IDA,” says Patricia Jansson of Höganäs. “We focus particularly on flour fortification initiatives within BAFF. Interaction in this group gives us the input we need to develop the right products for food applications.”
Höganäs has been producing high purity iron powders since 1910. High purity has opened up application areas such as soft magnetic composite (SMC) technology and provided the basis for a product aimed at the food industry.
“There are a lot of production methods approved for the elemental irons used in the food sector,” states Patricia. “Höganäs is in the unique position of having all of these production methods. This meant we could develop a unique iron fortification product that can provide good bioavailability which is a cost effective option that meets the GAIN target. Our objective was to create a product that can benefit people all over the world.”
The result was the NutraFine brand, a powder range specifically for iron fortification applications in the food industry. Research important in the development of the first product, NutraFine RS, is outlined in a paper by Bo Hu A Study on Elemental Irons and Iron Compounds for Food Fortification, which was presented at the conference Nutrition Safari 2005, part of the 18th International Congress of Nutrition in South Africa. NutraFine RS was successfully introduced in North America, the company’s largest single market for iron fortification, in 2005, and launched globally in 2006.
“With the NutraFine range and our manufacturing capacity, we are able to meet the demands for mass iron fortification of wheat and cereal products, and thus contribute to the global effort to reduce IDA,” concludes Patricia.
For more information, visit www.hoganas.com. And for more information on the problem of IDA and the benefits of iron fortification, visit www.ironfortification.com
