Review on Micronutrient Fortification of Food and Its Impacts on Human Health

Food fortification is the addition of essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) to foods during the manufacturing process to enhance the nutritional content of the end product for consumers. Food fortification has gained significant importance in the recent decades as a cost-effective and easy to implement intervention to address micronutrient deficiencies in the populations. Food fortification is the preferred public health intervention to combat nutrient deficiencies due to low nutrient intake in large segments of the population, high prevalence of micro-nutrient deficiency and well documented adverse health consequences. In this context, the present review tries to address the fortification strategies, challenges and limitations during fortification and the types of fortification. Some of the fortification programs that were carried out elsewhere in the world have also been described in the study.