PHYSIOLOGY | NUTRITION

New Methods used to fortify Foods are helping to solve Vitamin A Deficiencies afflicting Children in low-income Countries

Vitamin A helps keep your body healthy by making white blood cells that protect it from harmful bacteria, fungi, and parasites.

By Mark Zuleger-Thyss

  

 

 

As the “mirror to the soul,” your eyes can say what words fail to achieve. You may fail to communicate your emotions with words—trust or distrust, fear or doubt, or your insecurities—but a person’s whole world can be revealed by just one peek into their eyes.

 

The eyes can also reveal a lot about a person’s general health. With their delicate structures, such as nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues, the eyes can provide early warning signs of various serious health problems.

 

 

Dry eyes, for example, have been linked to deficiencies in vitamin A. Dehydrated eyes occur when your body is unable to produce enough tears. A balanced and healthy lifestyle can help keep you healthy and alleviate illnesses. Good nutrition is essential for ensuring the health of your eyes and vision.

Vitamin A deficiency is the world’s leading cause of childhood blindness, and in severe cases, it can be fatal.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about one-third of preschool-aged children globally suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). This deficiency, most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, causes blindness in children and increases the risk of death due to infectious diseases.

Every year, 2 million children die because they don’t get enough vitamins and minerals. Billions more face blindness, debilitating disease, and congenital disabilities for the same reason. Now, researchers have fortified corn grain and other staple foods with these essential micronutrients by encapsulating them in a biocompatible polymer made of a well-known food additive.

 

 

 

The colorized SEM image shows a vitamin A particle encapsulated in polymer (green) and coated with starch (purple) to make it less sticky.

 

Edible Microparticles: A Revolutionary Solution to Global Vitamin A Deficiency 

Polymer particles containing vitamin A can help protect the vision of at-risk children worldwide. Vitamin A is crucial for our ability to see and fight off diseases and for babies to grow healthy. Vitamin A is currently the second most deficient micronutrient among malnourished populations, impacting millions globally.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a novel way to fortify foods with vitamin A. Studies show that encapsulating vitamin A in a protective polymer prevents the nutrient from being broken down when cooked or stored. Directly adding vitamin A to foods is problematic due to its sensitivity to light and heat. Edible microparticles containing the vitamin are stable and offer high absorption rates, presenting a groundbreaking solution to combat vitamin A deficiency, especially in young children.

There are vitamin D in milk, niacin in bread, and iodine in salt. You can now choose orange juice with extra calcium, a cocktail of vitamins such as A, C, and E, or no-pulp juices. These are examples of enrichment and fortification, two reasons why many countries now have nutritious food supplies. Both terms refer to the addition of nutrients to food. Public health officials have long combatted undernutrition by adding essential nutrients, such as iodine, iron, and folate, to everyday food staples. But this approach only sometimes works.

Iron supplements, for example, can change foods’ taste and color, making people less likely to use them. And light, heat, and moisture can break down vitamin A.

 

  

 

Fortifying with Vitamin A takes Work

Firstly, vitamin A is oil-like, hindering its direct amalgamation with dry foods. Secondly, Vitamin A breaks down quickly when exposed to air, light, or heat, making it difficult to add to foods without losing its benefits.

Edible microparticles combined with dry foods protect vitamin A from degradation during storage and cooking and can be readily absorbed after ingestion in humans.

This new technology could revolutionize how vitamin A deficiency is addressed. Fortifying foods with natural polymer particles containing vitamin A could promote better vision and health for people at risk for blindness.

 

 

What are Polymers?

Polymers are a broad group of naturally created and synthetic substances constructed from large macromolecules. These macromolecules are generally repeating chains of smaller molecules or monomers. These long-chain chemicals are naturally and synthetically derived.

There are several types of polymers. The main ones are natural, synthetic, addition, condensation, and rearrangement.

Examples of naturally occurring polymers are silk, wool, and cellulose. Natural polymers are the primary building blocks of living organisms, including proteins/polyamides and polynucleotides (RNA, DNA).

 

 

 

Vitamin A is most known for maintaining healthy vision, but there’s more to this nutrient that you need to know. 

Vitamin A prevents night blindness, is essential for body growth and normal tooth development, protects and maintains the lining of the throat and respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems, and helps with protein and glycogen synthesis.

Many fruits and vegetables and animal-based foods contain plentiful stores of vitamin A. You can get vitamin A and Beta-carotene in the liver and carrots, dark green leafy vegetables, yellow vegetables, and yellow fruits like peaches and apricots. 

Sweet potatoes, for example, provide 1,922 mcg RAE or 215 percent of the DV for vitamin A per 1 cup cooked. A single large baked sweet potato contains the complex carbs needed for energy and nearly a quarter of your daily needs for fiber. Sweet potatoes also have vitamins C and B6, potassium, and niacin, a nutrient that turns food into energy.

 

 

 

Two Types of Vitamin A

Preformed vitamin A | found in animal products, such as meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy.

Pro-vitamin A | found in fruits and vegetables. The most common pro-vitamin A type you’re likely familiar with is beta-carotene.

 

  

The Best Food Sources of Vitamin A

Beta-carotene is a carotenoid (plant pigment) that gives foods, like carrots or tomatoes, an orange or red color. On its own, it’s a powerful antioxidant. The liver processes beta-carotene into vitamin A, which supports healthy vision and a robust immune system, plays a role in reproduction, and helps your organs work correctly.

Most people get an adequate amount of vitamin A from the foods they eat. Concerned about getting too much vitamin A? The NIH recommends you limit your intake of liver and cod liver oil, which have high concentrations of preformed vitamin A.

For perspective, a 3.5-ounce portion of braised beef liver has 9,363 microgram RAEs, more than three times the UL. Eggs are also a source of preformed vitamin A, but one large egg has only 90 micrograms RAEs of vitamin A.

To meet daily needs, include these healthy food sources of vitamin A in your diet:

 

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Chicken
• Fortified Milk
• Pumpkin
• Salmon
• Spinach
• Sweet potatoes
• Tuna

 

Vitamin A helps keep your body healthy by making white blood cells that protect it from harmful bacteria, fungi, and parasites.

These days, the vitamin A content of fruits and vegetables is significantly lower than expected. Robert Russell from Tufts University in Boston reported that anyone who meets their need for vitamin A solely from foods containing carotenes, such as carrots or broccoli, should eat twice as much in the future.

 

 

Vitamin A, vital for eyesight, reproduction, and the immune system, is found in fish, meat, and eggs. Carotene compounds give fruits and vegetables their bright yellow or reddish colors. And your liver is where most of your vitamin A is stored. When consuming a healthy diet, your liver has enough vitamin A to last roughly 4 to 12 months.

 

 

 

Vitamin A during Pregnancy

Too much supplementation of this nutrient taken during the first three months of pregnancy has been linked to congenital disabilities. Discussing this issue with your doctor, who will help you find the safest prenatal vitamins, is best.

 

 

The National Institutes of Health

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for men and women is 900 and 700 μg retinol activity equivalents (RAE)/day, respectively. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults is 3,000 μg/day of preformed vitamin A.

 

 

 

 

Food as Medicine

Because vitamin A is fat-soluble (like vitamins D, E, and K), you must ensure you get enough fat in your diet to help your body absorb the nutrients.

Pair baked sweet potato with fat-rich foods to help your body absorb vitamin A.

Your body requires a daily intake of vitamin A to maintain its various functions and overall health. Vitamin A is an essential nutrient, which means that your body cannot produce it independently and must obtain it from your diet or supplements.

 

 

 

 

Summary

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about one-third of preschool-aged children globally suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Vitamin A helps keep your body healthy by making white blood cells that protect it from harmful bacteria, fungi, and parasites.

Good nutrition is essential for ensuring the health of your eyes and vision. Vitamin A deficiency is the world’s leading cause of childhood blindness, and in severe cases, it can be fatal.

The most common Provitamin A type you’re likely familiar with is beta-carotene.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a novel way to fortify foods with vitamin A. They fortified corn grain and other staple foods with these essential micronutrients by encapsulating them in a biocompatible polymer made of a well-known food additive.

 

Too much supplementation of vitamin A taken during the first three months of pregnancy has been linked to congenital disabilities.

 

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for men and women is 900 and 700 μg retinol activity equivalents (RAE) /day, respectively.

 

Full Well | Women's Prenatal Multivitamin

 

 

 

 

Follow Nature... wherever She may lead You

 

 

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