Nutritional Advice El MondoObjectives:
Vitamin D (vitD) deficiency is a global childhood health problem. Food fortification is a promising strategy to curb vitamin D deficiency. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.
Does vitamin D fortification reduce vitamin D deficiency in healthy children aged 1-18 years?
Study design:
This review article included 20 parallel RCTs (n = 4,044), including 15 parallel RCTs and 5 cluster RCTs.
All RCTs, except for three, had a low risk of bias.
The included children ranged in age from 1.4 to 18 years old.
The interventions included the fortification of a single food item such as milk, cereal, juice, and bread and two items of food such as yogurt and cheese or milk and bread.
All fortified food products were compared with unfortified food, different food products or no food.
The median intervention duration was 5 months (range 2-24 months).
The mean 25(OH)D concentration at baseline was 24.02 nmol/L and the prevalence of vitD deficiency was 46.6%.
No publication bias was detected by Egger’s test [p value = 0.24].
The overall evidence quality was high.
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found vitamin D food fortification significantly improved 25(OH)D concentration by a mean difference (MD) of 15.51 nmol/L [95% CI = 6.28 to 24.74, I2 = 99%], which resulted in a mean increase of 3 nmol/L for every 100 IU of vitamin D, when adjusted for baseline 25(OH)D concentration and country latitude.
The investigators found, additionally, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency significantly decreased by a risk ratio of 0.53 [95% CI = 0.41 to 0.69, I2 = 95%] and cognitive function improved by a MD of 1.22 intelligence quotient (IQ) points [95% CI = 0.65 to 1.79, I2 = 0%].
The investigators concluded high-quality evidence from 20 RCTs shows improved 25(OH)D concentration by 15.51 nmol/L and reduces vitamin D deficiency prevalence by one child for every 6.3 children receiving a vitamin D fortified food product.
Original title:
The Impact of Vitamin D Food Fortification and Health Outcomes in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression by Al Khalifah R, Alsheikh R, [...], Backer N.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7298752/
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies food fortification and vitamin D right here.