Chewing gum to fight malnutrition

Chewing gum and flour enriched with vitamins could form the bones of a radical direct approach to tackling malnutrition. The best, most cost-effective way to overcome the most widespread forms of malnutrition is by delivering micronutrients via fortified food, experts have said. Methods could vary from adding iron to flour to vitamin-enriched chewing gum, a Nairobi conference on nutrition heard.

For children and pregnant women in poor countries, vitamin A, iron and iodine are the most important nutrients for improving global health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Worldwide, 140 million children don’t get enough Vitamin A, causing babies and small children to die from diseases such as measles and diarrhoea. Nutrient supplements top the list of the best ways to spend aid money in a 2008 study by Danish think-tank The Copenhagen Consensus Centre. Giving children aged six months to five years-old vitamin A every four to six months could lower child mortality by 23 per cent, it said. Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children and increases disease risk and death from severe infections. In pregnant women, it causes night blindness and may increase the risk of maternal mortality, according to WHO.

As many as 219 million children worldwide are susceptible to Vitamin A deficiency, said the think tank and more than one billion people to zinc deficiency. Aimed at thrashing out the most effective ways to tackle malnutrition the conference heard how Danish company Gumlink is developing a technology that enriches chewing gum with Vitamin A. The company has built a factory in Zimbabwe, and believes the product shows promise. And this innovative solution is just one of many. Vitamin A can be given through cheap capsules, or can be added to milk or cooking oil during manufacturing. The sugar-free gum is easily digested and comes in two forms - for children aged 3-5, and for pregnant and nursing women.

Vitamin A deficiency affects more than half of all countries, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia, and it is "especially important where under-five mortality is high," Sue Horton, a malnutrition economist, told the conference. "The gum promotes mouth hygiene, is easy to administer compared to other programmes that rely on co-immunization campaigns, and children find gum fun," Henrik Jespersen, Gumlink Group vice-president said. "Our idea is to use our technology to provide one more way of delivering Vitamin A to those who need it," reported Reuters news service.A similar initiative in West Africa is promoting folic acid fortification in wheat flour and Vitamin A in cooking oil.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children