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Micronutrient Fortification Forum Held in Beijing
Forum on micronutrient fortification in China was held Monday, in a bid to push forward food micronutrient fortification in the country.
Micronutrient deficiency in food is a major problem of health facing developing countries, and food fortification is a useful means to solve it.
Survey shows that Chinese people are inclined to suffer from anemia caused by iron deficiency, with 14.9 percent of the male Chinese and 21.2 percent of the female.
Wang Zhao, director of the Department of Diseases Control of the Ministry of Health, said that about 700 million Chinese people suffer from iodine deficiency, accounting for 40 percent of the world's total.
She pointed out that China has made great progress in food fortification including pushing forward iodized salt which at the same time has accelerated the country's efforts to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), a major health threat to the Chinese.
Chinese government has set May 5 every year as the National IDD Day since 1994. It has called on the whole society to use iodized salt.
Cheng Wenjie, an official from the State Administration of Light Industry, said that China has so far almost popularized the use of iodized salt.
However, he pointed out that great efforts still required to push forward the salt iodination in the country's underdeveloped regions, especially the western part.
The forum was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, Asia Development Bank, the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef), and International Life Science Institute.
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