IRON FORTIFICATION - SCI & TECH
News: Iron fortification: health risks of excessive iron intake
What's in the news?
● Recent
study reveals that the net effect of iron provision through fortification on
haemoglobin formation is likely to be lower than thought.
What is Iron fortification?
● Iron fortification refers
to the process of adding iron to food products to increase their iron content.
● It
is done using various forms of iron, such as iron salts or iron powders, which
are added to the food during processing.
● Typically,
a chosen food staple like wheat or rice, or even salt, is fortified to provide
up to two thirds (10 mg/day) of the iron requirement of adult women, and almost
the entire daily requirement of men.
● It
is expected that just 5-10% of the
ingested iron, from the iron salt that is added, is absorbed.
Key takeaways from the study:
Essentiality of iron:
● Iron
is an essential mineral required for many bodily functions, including the
formation of haemoglobin, but can be harmful when taken in excess.
● It
is suggested for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia is fortification of
food with iron.
Breaching of tolerable upper limit:
● Excessive
iron intake can leads to the risk of adverse events like breaching of the
‘tolerable upper limit’ of intake, which
is set at 40 mg/day.
Effect on Men:
● Women
can ‘excrete’ iron from the body through menstrual bleeding, but men cannot,
unless they have some form of pathological or abnormal bleeding. This makes men
particularly vulnerable to excess iron intake.
Effect on Children:
● Trials
conducted in the U.S. and Africa, showed that with fortification, there is an
increased excretion of iron in children.
Extra excretion:
● Extra
excretion takes place when excess iron is taken. It is likely that the extra
iron is lost through the intestine, where cells of the intestinal lining
exfoliate or drop off, and thereby deposit their iron into the intestine lumen
for excretion, or through the urine.
Consequences of extra intake of iron: