Essential micronutrient fortification in dairy products

Milk in its natural form is almost unique as a balanced source of man's dietary need. The various steps in processing and storage have a measurable impact on some specific nutrients.

Fortification is defined as the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrients such as essential vitamins and minerals to food. The fortification of food products has been practiced for more than 80 years.

The micronutrients which are commonly used in the fortification of the food products such as milk and its products are:
• Vitamins and co-vitamins
• Essential minerals
• Essential fatty acids
• Essential amino acids
• Phytonutrients
• Enzymes

Vitamins are compounds which play a role as cofactors in the body. Fermented milk products such as yogurt can be thought as vitamin sources. Vitamin concentrates with vitamins A and D are used for fortification of fluid milk.

Vitamin fortification has a long history in fluid milk in the United States to reduce rickets in children, and the FDA mandated in the 1990s that fortified fluid milks must be within 100% to 150% of label claims to address documented variability in vitamin amounts.

Iron-fortified yogurt has a relatively high iron bioavailability. Iron fortification of milk and dairy product is considered as a potential approach to prevent the iron deficiency disorder , since dairy foods are an important part of the daily diet in most parts of the world.

Iron fortification of milk or dairy products induces several bio physicochemical modifications with important consequences. Iron fortification of food is regarded as the most cost-effective method for reducing the prevalence of nutritional iron deficiency. Iron deficiency induces anemia, alters mental development, decreases immunity, impairs cognitive scores in children and leads to poor pregnancy outcome.
Essential micronutrient fortification in dairy products