Including calcium‐fortified water or flour in modeled diets based on local foods could improve calcium intake for women, adolescent girls, and young children in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Guatemala

KNIGHT, FRANCES; FERGUSON, ELAINE L.; RANA, ZIAUL H.; BELIZAN, JOSÉ; GOMES, FILOMENA; BOURASSA, MEGAN W.; DICKIN, KATHERINE L.; WEAVER, CONNIE M.; CORMICK, GABRIELA

ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2023

0077-8923

Adequate calcium intake is essential for health, especially for infants, children, adolescents,and women, yet is difficult to achieve with local foods in many low- andmiddle-income countries. Previous analysis found it was not always possible to identifyfood-based recommendations (FBRs) that reached the calcium population recommendedintake (PRI) for these groups in Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Uganda. Wehave modeled the potential contribution of calcium-fortified drinking water or wheatflour to FBR sets, to fill the remaining intake gaps. Optimized diets containing fortifiedproducts, with calcium-rich local foods, achieved the calcium PRI for all target groups.Combining fortified water or flour with FBRs met dietary intake targets for adolescentgirls in all geographies and allowed a reduction from 3–4 to the more feasible 1–2 FBRs.Water with a calcium concentration of 100 mg/L with FBRs was sufficient to meetcalcium targets in Uganda, but higher concentrations (400–500 mg/L) were mostlyrequired in Guatemala and Bangladesh. Combining calcium-fortified wheat flour at 400 mg/100 g of flour and the FBR for small fish resulted in diets meeting the calciumPRI in Bangladesh. Calcium-fortified water or flour could improve calcium intake forvulnerable populations, especially when combinedwith FBRs based on locally availablefoods.