Bouillon fortification as a strategy to address inequities in micronutrient adequacy of diets in Nigeria

Abstract

Bouillon is a widely consumed condiment in many West African countries, including Nigeria. Although Nigeria has mandatory fortification standards for multiple food vehicles, bouillon fortification could help address remaining gaps in micronutrient intake. Using household food consumption data, we used the nutrient density method to model the additional contribution of bouillon fortified with vitamin A (40–250 µg/g bouillon), folic acid (20–120 µg/g), vitamin B12 (0.2–2 µg/g), iron (0.6–5 mg/g), and zinc (0.6–5 mg/g) for meeting micronutrient requirements of women of reproductive age (WRA) and children aged 6–59 months. Accounting for existing fortification programs, our results showed that, except for iron, the prevalence of inadequacy was substantially higher among WRA and children living in poorer and rural households. Given the ubiquity of bouillon consumption, bouillon fortification has the potential to virtually eliminate vitamin A, folate, and vitamin B12 inadequacy, reduce the prevalence of zinc inadequacy by over 20 percentage points, and improve equity in the micronutrient adequacy of diets across socioeconomic strata and urban and rural residence. Our results also suggested that designing a bouillon fortification program would require careful planning to balance reductions in inadequacy with the risk of high intakes. This evidence provides important input into decisions around bouillon fortification in Nigeria.