ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr., 07 March 2022
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 9 – 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.806566

Priority Micronutrient Density in Foods

Ty Beal^1,2* and Flaminia Ortenzi³

• ¹Knowledge Leadership, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Washington, DC, United States
• ²Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
• ³Knowledge Leadership, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Geneva, Switzerland

Background: Despite concerted efforts to improve diet quality and reduce malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies remain widespread globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries and among population groups with increased needs, where diets are often inadequate in iron, zinc, folate, vitamin A, calcium, and vitamin B₁₂. There is a need to understand the density of these micronutrients and their bioavailability across diverse foods and the suitability of these foods to help meet requirements for populations with high burdens of micronutrient malnutrition.

Objective: We aimed to identify the top food sources of these commonly lacking micronutrients, which are essential for optimal health, to support efforts to reduce micronutrient malnutrition among various populations globally.

Methods: We built an aggregated global food composition database and calculated recommended nutrient intakes for five population groups with varying requirements. An approach was developed to rate foods according to their density in each and all priority micronutrients for various population groups with different nutrient requirements.

Results: We find that the top sources of priority micronutrients are organs, small fish, dark green leafy vegetables, bivalves, crustaceans, goat, beef, eggs, milk, canned fish with bones, mutton, and lamb. Cheese, goat milk, and pork are also good sources, and to a lesser extent, yogurt, fresh fish, pulses, teff, and canned fish without bones.

Conclusion: The results provide insight into which foods to prioritize to fill common micronutrient gaps and reduce undernutrition.

My comment: There has been a recent rise in nutritional deficiency diseases in the UK in both adults and children. Organ meats, tinned sardines, dark green leafy vegetables, eggs, milk, pork and pulses are good value for money foods that could help.

Adapted from BMJ 15 July 2023

Northern Ireland and Scotland have already instituted eye screening every two years for diabetic patients who are thought to be at low risk of eye complications.

Wales are now adopting this screening interval as well and England will follow suit from this coming October.

BMJ 20 May 2023 Adapted from Effectiveness of spironolactone for women with acne vulgaris in England and Wales by Santer M et al.

Women over the age of 18 living in England and Wales whose acne was bad enough to merit antibiotic treatment, were randomised to use either Spironolactone or placebo. They were allowed to continue the topical treatments that they were already using for their acne. Their scores on their acne specific quality of life were assessed by themselves and a clinical assessor evaluated their acne.

200 women were recruited to each group. The findings showed a small but statistically significant improvement after 24 weeks of spironolactone use at 100mg a day. Their average age was 29 years.

One fifth of those taking Spironolactone reported headaches.

The assessors thought that 19% of the women had noticeable skin improvement compared to 6% of the placebo group. The women themselves reported a quality of life improvement of 17 points in the placebo group and 21 in the Spironolactone group.

The authors think that this improvement is good enough to be a useful alternative to long term antibiotics.

My comment: Having suffered from acne since the age of 11 I am pleased to see another treatment being offered for this condition. Almost all teenagers of both genders get acne. In boys it tends to be more severe than in girls but it tends to resolve completely. For some women it never resolves and they have it persistently throughout their lives. If a woman still has it by the age of 24 the acne is likely the persistent type. Acne, even with the best treatment is very slow to respond, and at best will improve at 10% a month. This is for Roaccutane. I wonder what the effects would be over a longer length of time for the other women in the study. The results, though promising are not stunning, and diligent use of topical treatments and consideration of using anti-biotics and Roaccutane will also need to be considered to resolve symptoms.

Spironolactone is a diuretic that can be also used to control facial hair growth in women. It is sometimes used if someone has high blood pressure that does not respond to other drugs.