Micronutrient fortification of school lunch meals in himalayan villages

Abstract

Micronutrient deficiencies affect millions of schoolchildren in developing countries. • In this review, we describe the effectiveness of fortification of cooked lunch meals with multiple micronutrient powder at school on anemia and micronutrient status of primary schoolchildren in Tehri Garhwal District of Uttarakhand, India. • The micronutrient fortified school lunch meal was well accepted by the schoolchildren. • Schoolchildren who consumed the micronutrient fortified school lunch meals for 8 months had 43 % reduced odds of vitamin A deficiency [OR (odds ratio) (95 % CI): 0.57 (0.33-0.97)], folate deficiency of 53 % [OR (95 % CI): 0.47 (0.26-0.84)], and vitamin B12 deficiency of 59 % [OR (95 % CI): 0.41 (0.22-0.86)] compared to placebo. • Iron status of schoolchildren also improved significantly after consuming the micronutrient fortified school lunch meals. The mean total body iron (TBI) increased from 148.6 ± 0.1 μ mol/kg to 220.5 ± 0.1 μ mol/kg from baseline to post-intervention in the children who consumed the micronutrient fortified lunch meal compared to an increase from 148.1 ± 0.1 μ mol/kg to 197.6 ± 0.1 μ mol/ kg in the placebo group (p < 0.05).