Sugar fortification with vitamin A
Fortificación del azúcar con vitamina A
- Date
- c. 1974-1975 · confidence medium
- Place
- INCAP, Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Credited to
- Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), with Guillermo Arroyave
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
INCAP developed a method to add vitamin A to table sugar, a universally consumed product in Guatemala, to prevent the deficiency that causes childhood blindness and mortality. It is one of the first mass fortifications of this kind in a developing country.
The programme began in the 1970s, was interrupted for years and was reactivated in 1987 with later legal mandate; dates vary by source.
What it led to
- a sugar fortification programme in Guatemala and later other Central American countries
- strategies for fortifying staple foods against vitamin A deficiency
- children's eye health