Walk down a supermarket aisle, and pick up any brand of salt. Chances are it will be iodised. An ambitious project launched by the Government in the 1980s, iodised salt became the go-to method to remove iodine deficiency disorders.
This was also around the time when we started talking about “hidden hunger” — the deficiency of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) in our diet. Fortification is the addition of micronutrients such as Vitamin B, B12, A, iron folic and zinc to our staple foods, such as oil, rice, and atta . “Fortification works because people look at food as a source of nutrition, so they are less hesitant to try it than say, taking supplements or shots,” says Delhi-based dietitian Manjari Chandra. What that has led to, is almost every packaged food brand, juices, cereals, and snacks, claiming it is fortified with vitamins and minerals. The danger is when we consume junk food with a false sense of its nutritive value, because of the ‘added nutrients’.
“The reason we have deficiencies today is not because we are prone to them, but because the food we eat is highly processed,” says Manjari. “Take wheat for example. It naturally has nutrients, but you polish it and then synthetically add those very nutrients you stripped away. It’s the same case with cornflakes.”
Moreover, fortification is mostly done with synthetic minerals, which are not as bio-available — the body doesn’t absorb them easily — as naturally occurring ones. “Even the commercial iodisation of salt can never be as effective as using naturally occurring salt with iodine, like sea salt, rock salt, pink salt or black salt,” she says.
You would be better off eating the least processed food: “Instead of what the processing industry is putting on your table, go back to eating traditional foods like millets and vegetables grown in the area you live in,” she advises. A diverse diet too helps in keeping deficiencies at bay. Moreover, for a large part of the Indian population, anaemia and thyroid are an issue, which can come from factors other than diet. “When it comes to iron deficiency, you also have to look at the kind of water you are drinking. If it is contaminated by hookworms, it reduces the absorption of iron in the body.”
Fortification of staples that reach people who don’t have access to the right kind of nutrients, is a good idea, yes. However, to assume that fortified food can replace a balanced diet would be foolish.
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