News

A chemical engineer at the University of Toronto has come up with a way to fortify salt with iron, a discovery that could add a sprinkle of nutrition to the diets of billions of people in the developing world.

It sounds so simple - add iron to salt, and fight anemia, which saps the strength of an estimated two billion people worldwide.

But it took Levente Diosady and his colleagues almost 10 years to figure out how to do it.

That's because in many parts of the world, salt is already fortified with iodine, which protects an estimated 84 million newborns a year from brain damage, and four billion people from thyroid disease.

But iron and iodine don't get along; if you mix them, the iodine vaporizes. There were other technical and aesthetic problems to solve as well, said Dr. Diosady. If you add iron powder to a salt shaker or bag of salt, it sinks to the bottom and forms a dark layer. If you add it in clumps, it looks like mouse droppings.

He eventually patented a process that involves coating iron particles in vegetable fat and a white colouring so that they can be added to salt in a way that doesn't affect the iodine and doesn't change the taste or appearance of the salt. Studies have shown the particles remain stable in hot and humid climates. A clinical trial in India showed it reduced anemia by 35 per cent in school children, and they had the special salt in only one meal a day - their lunch.

He turned the patent over to the Micronutrient Initiative, a non-profit organization based in Ottawa that works to ensure that poor people in developing countries - especially women and children - get the vitamins and minerals they need.

It was Venkatesh Mannar, president of the Micronutrients Initiative, who had first asked Dr. Diosady to find a way to fortify salt with both iron and iodine.

"I knew it was complicated, but I didn't realize how complicated," said Mr. Mannar, who as a young man started in his family's salt-producing business in India. He became a consultant to Unicef on fortifying salt with iodine, and then moved to Canada and took a job at the Micronutrient Initiative.

In North America, salt was fortified with iodine in the 1920s as a way to protect people from developing goiters, the swelling of the thyroid gland that can be caused by a deficiency in the mineral. But it wasn't until the 1980s that scientists made the connection between severe iodine deficiency and mental retardation in babies and young children. Even a moderate deficiency can lower intelligence by 10 to 15 IQ points.

It is relatively simple to fortify salt with iodine. Unicef, with the help of a number of charitable and non-governmental organizations, pushed to get iodine added to salt around the world. Today, 70 per cent of the world's population gets a dose of iodine with their salt.

Anemia is a less pressing, but still serious public health problem in the developing world. It makes people feel weak and easily fatigued.

In Canada and other developed countries, flour is fortified with iron, so children can get an adequate supply of it through bread and cereals and other prepared foods.

In the poor countries, salt is an ideal vehicle for iron, said Dr. Diosady, because almost everyone consumes it, and most people eat about the same amount a day, making it easy to control the dose.

Fortifying salt with iron is more expensive than adding iodine. It increases the cost of salt by 30 to 40 per cent instead of 3 to 5 per cent, said Mr. Mannar, which will make it more of a challenge to introduce.

Three million children in the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu are now getting the double-fortified salt in their daily lunch, and the Micronutrient Initiative is working on agreements that will allow governments and private companies in a number of other developing nations to use the made-in-Canada technology.

Back in Toronto, Dr. Diosady has moved on from salt and is working on a way to make soft drinks more nutritious. He's patented ways to make a tasteless protein powder from both mustard plants and canola that can be added to acidic liquids like cola. Soy protein is already available in powder form, but isn't completely soluble in soft drinks, said Dr. Diosady.

More nutritious soft drinks would be a boon in the Third World, but could also be appealing to North Americans.

"It has the potential to be very big."