Fighting Iron-Deficiency Anemia: Innovations in Food Fortificants and Biofortification Strategies

[EN] Iron deficiency remains one of the main nutritional disorders worldwide and low iron intake and/or bioavailability are currently the major causes of anemia. To fight this public health problem, the scientific challenge is to find an iron form with sufficient bioavailability to increase its leve...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Liberal, Ângela, Pinela, José, Barros, Lillian Bouçada de, Vivar Quintana, Ana María, Ferreira, Isabel Cristina Fernandes Rodrigues
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repositorio:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/145500
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/145500
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Iron-deficiency anemia
Iron bioavailability
Food fortification
Dietary strategies
Biofortification
Agronomic/genetic techniques
33 Ciencias tecnológicas
3309 Tecnología de Los Alimentos
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Iron deficiency remains one of the main nutritional disorders worldwide and low iron intake and/or bioavailability are currently the major causes of anemia. To fight this public health problem, the scientific challenge is to find an iron form with sufficient bioavailability to increase its levels in humans through food fortification. In turn, biofortification appears as a comparatively advantageous and bearable strategy for the delivery of vitamins and other micronutrients for people without access to a healthy and diverse diet. This approach relies on plant breeding, transgenic techniques, or agronomic practices to obtain a final food product with a higher iron content. It is also known that certain food constituents are able to favor or inhibit iron absorption. The management of these compounds can thus successfully improve the absorption of dietary iron and, ultimately, contribute to fight this disorder present all over the world. This review describes the main causes/manifestations of iron-deficiency anemia, forms of disease prevention and treatment, and the importance of a balanced and preventive diet. A special focus was given to innovative food fortification and biofortification procedures used to improve the iron content in staple food crops.