A safe strategy for addition of vitamins and minerals to foods

TY - JOUR

T1 - A safe strategy for addition of vitamins and minerals to foods

AU - Rasmussen, Salka E

AU - Andersen, Niels L

AU - Dragsted, Lars Ove

AU - Larsen, John C

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - Addition of vitamins and minerals to foods must be done without health risk to any consumer group. International expert groups have aimed at establishing tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for vitamins and minerals although lack of solid data on their safety is a major obstacle to this work. In this paper, we summarize the existing ULs and suggest the use of guidance levels (GLs) set by others and temporary guidance levels (TGLs) proposed here, whenever no consensus UL has been established for adults. We suggest the use of body surface area ratios to establish similar levels for younger age groups. The levels are applied in a model for calculation of safe fortification levels for all ages. We have estimated the upper 95th percentile intake of vitamins and minerals from food in various Danish age and gender groups and suggest that a daily multivitamin-mineral pill is included in the calculation of total dietary intake levels of all vitamins and minerals. By subtracting this dietary intake level from the UL, GL or TGL, we calculate the amount that can be safely used for fortification. Since safety must be assured for all age groups, the smallest difference relative to energy intake calculated for any age group is proposed as the maximal allowance (MA) for fortification with each nutrient. We suggest that the MA should be expressed in weight units per energy unit in order to distribute it equally between potentially fortifiable food groups according to their usual contribution to total energy intakes.

AB - Addition of vitamins and minerals to foods must be done without health risk to any consumer group. International expert groups have aimed at establishing tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for vitamins and minerals although lack of solid data on their safety is a major obstacle to this work. In this paper, we summarize the existing ULs and suggest the use of guidance levels (GLs) set by others and temporary guidance levels (TGLs) proposed here, whenever no consensus UL has been established for adults. We suggest the use of body surface area ratios to establish similar levels for younger age groups. The levels are applied in a model for calculation of safe fortification levels for all ages. We have estimated the upper 95th percentile intake of vitamins and minerals from food in various Danish age and gender groups and suggest that a daily multivitamin-mineral pill is included in the calculation of total dietary intake levels of all vitamins and minerals. By subtracting this dietary intake level from the UL, GL or TGL, we calculate the amount that can be safely used for fortification. Since safety must be assured for all age groups, the smallest difference relative to energy intake calculated for any age group is proposed as the maximal allowance (MA) for fortification with each nutrient. We suggest that the MA should be expressed in weight units per energy unit in order to distribute it equally between potentially fortifiable food groups according to their usual contribution to total energy intakes.

KW - Food

KW - Fortification

KW - Micronutrients

KW - Minerals

KW - Tolerable upper intake level

KW - Vitamins

U2 - 10.1007/s00394-005-0580-9

DO - 10.1007/s00394-005-0580-9

M3 - Review

C2 - 16200467

AN - SCOPUS:33645141310

SN - 1436-6207

VL - 45

SP - 123

EP - 135

JO - European Journal of Nutrition

JF - European Journal of Nutrition

IS - 3

ER -