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Long‐term efficacy of a refreshing beverage, fortified with selected micronutrients, to improve the micronutrient status of schoolchildren and women in the context of the nutritional situation in rural Guatemala
Author(s) -
Oliva Raquel Campos,
SotoMéndez María José,
Solomons Noel W.,
Armas Laura,
Selhub Jacob,
Paul Ligi,
Kraemer Klaus
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.1172.15
Subject(s) - micronutrient , fortification , riboflavin , medicine , environmental health , context (archaeology) , vitamin , vitamin b12 , food fortification , b vitamins , micronutrient deficiency , population , food science , biology , paleontology , pathology
Background Nutritive beverages can be important sources of micronutrients. There is a need and an opportunity to determine how beverages can play their most healthful and nutritionally‐relevant role in the diets of rural populations at risk of nutrient deficiencies. Objective To compare the evolution of biomarkers of nutritional status with respect to four vitamins (riboflavin, folate, vitamins B12 and D), across two rural samples (schoolchildren and women of fertile age), randomized to receive supervised consumption of a daily serving of a beverage. Methods A total of 236 women, and 156 schoolchildren of both sexes in 12 villages. All with informed consent, were enrolled in the baseline sampling of blood for circulating concentrations of riboflavin, folate, vitamins B12 and D in March, 2011. As of May, 2011, 10‐month, household‐level, stratified‐randomization intervention commenced, distributing 350 mL bottles of a fortified or non‐fortified beverage available to participants. Nutritional evaluation was repeated at the endline in March 2012 in the same individuals. Results Important differential (baseline‐to‐endline) increases, contrasting between fortification and non‐fortification groups, existed for children with riboflavin (+16.4 vs +5%), vitamin B12 (+33.9 vs +6.5%) and vitamin D (+23.3% vs +5.0%), but not for folate. The corresponding analysis for adult women revealed an effect for folate (+30.4 vs +11.5%), but not for the remaining vitamins. All children were folate adequate at all stages. Differentially greater endline adequacy of biomarker status was seen in the fortification vs non‐fortification groups for riboflavin (25.5% vs 6.5%), vitamin B12 (46.2% vs 6.2%) and vitamin D (41.0 vs 8.6%). For women and folate, the two treatment groups had 92.3 vs 43.7% reaching normal levels at endline. Among the other three vitamins, only up to a third of women had normal status at endline without a treatment‐wise effect. Conclusion Increases in circulating biomarkers occurred for most nutrients, variously among adult women and children, but complete resolution of initial low‐vitamin status was not seen for any nutrient. Support or Funding Information cbc, Guatemala; DSM Nutritional and Sight & Life, Basel, Switzerland