Publications

There has been recent advocacy for food fortification with zinc in India. However, there are three important conditions that should be established before  fortifying food with any micronutrient, which requires that there should be i)  Established high prevalence of biochemical or sub-clinical deficiency (≥20%), ii)  Low dietary intakes that increase the risk of deficiency, and iii) Evidence of  efficacy of supplementation from clinical trials. For zinc, all three conditions  are not satisfied. The prevalence of low serum zinc concentrations in Indian  children is well below 20% (~6%), signifying that zinc deficiency is not a public  health problem. There is no risk of dietary zinc inadequacy in Indian populations  where intake has been measured. Finally, there is no robust evidence that  zinc-fortified foods improve functional outcomes, even if the serum zinc  concentration is increased. Thus, contemporary evidence does not justify the need  for food fortification with zinc in India.