Fortification of beverages for prevention of maternal and infant mortality

微量营养素缺乏对世界近三分之一的人口产生不利影响。缺铁是每年造成20多万产妇死亡和约500万儿童死亡的主要原因。这个问题对妇女的影响最为严重；例如，在印度，超过50%的妇女和高达70%的幼儿缺铁。有很多方案可以解决这个问题。补充铁需要卫生保健监督，强化食品无法提供给不参与现金经济的农村妇女。然而，茶在南亚是普遍和统一的消费，是世界上消费量第二大的饮料，可能是微量营养素的理想载体。不幸的是，茶中的多酚与铁和其他金属发生反应，形成令人不快的复合物，这些复合物没有生物利用价值，降低了茶的有益作用。拟议项目的目标是开发一个技术平台，用于强化茶、茶基饮料和含有高水平多酚的本地植物制备的饮料，最终目标是降低孕产妇和婴儿死亡率，并通过这些广泛消费和喜爱的饮料提供更好的营养。我们已经开发了一种技术，通过使用一种竞争的螯合剂，以生物可利用的形式结合铁，确保清茶中铁的生物利用度，并开发了一种分析技术，用于定量任何铁单宁复合物。虽然该系统生产出的茶的颜色和味道都可以接受，但如果用传统的方法用牛奶煮茶，颜色就会让人无法接受。因此，该计划的具体目标是发展对非生物可利用螯合物形成的化学理解，包括锌、铁和钙在茶多酚存在下的相互作用，在pH值和温度下存在于茶、口腔、胃和小肠中，并开发通过化学和物理手段控制微量营养素的传递和释放的技术。由于螯合剂或抗氧化剂不太可能阻止茶的变色，铁、锌和螯合剂将被微胶囊化在可食用的聚合物中，这些聚合物在茶的高温下是稳定的，但会在胃中溶解。我们还将测试微乳剂、皮克林乳剂和自组装微乳剂在茶的存在下作为微量营养素载体。该项目的总体技术目标是开发一个技术平台，可以扩展到生产有效的强化茶和茶基饮料，保持添加的微量营养素的生物利用度，可以用传统技术制备，并保留理想的感官特征-颜色，味道和香气。该技术平台将提供定制的微量营养素组合，可通过世界各地的慈善和商业渠道用于满足营养需求。

Micronutrient deficiencies adversely affect nearly a third of the world's population. Iron deficiency is a major contributor to more that 200,000 maternal deaths, and to the death some 5 million children annually. The problem most severely affects women; e.g. in India more than 50% of women and up to 70% of young children are iron deficient. There are many programs to address this problem. Iron supplementation requires health care supervision and fortified manufactured foods do not reach rural women, who do not participate in the cash economy. Tea, however, is universally and uniformly consumed in South Asia, and is the second most consumed beverage in the world, and may be an ideal vehicle for micronutrients. Unfortunately, the polyphenols in tea react with iron and other metals to form unpalatable complexes that are not bioavailable, and reduce the beneficial effects of tea. The goal of the proposed program is the development of a technology platform for the fortification of tea, tea-based beverages and beverages prepared from native plants containing high levels of polyphenols, with the ultimate goal of reducing maternal and infant mortality and providing improved nutrition through these broadly consumed and loved beverages. We have developed technology for ensuring bioavailability of iron in clear tea, by using a competing chelating agent that binds iron in a bioavailable form, and developed an analytical technique for quantifying any iron-tannin complexes. While the system produces tea of acceptable colour and taste, when tea is prepared by the traditional method of boiling with milk, the colour is unacceptable. Therefore, the specific objectives of the program are to develop an understanding of the chemistry of formation of non-bioavailable chelates, including the interaction of Zn, Fe and Ca in the presence of tea polyphenols at pH and temperature present in the tea, the mouth, stomach and the small intestine, and to develop technology for controlling the delivery and release of the micronutrients by chemical and physical means. As it is unlikely that the discolouration of tea could be prevented by chelating agents or antioxidants, Fe, Zn and chelators will be microencapsulated in edible polymers that are stable at high tea temperatures but will dissolve in the stomach. We will also test microemulsions, Pickering emulsions and self-assembled microemulsions as micronutrient carriers in the presence of tea. The overall technical goal of the program is to develop a technology platform that can be expanded to produce effective fortified tea and tea-based beverages, that maintain the bioavailability of added micronutrients and can be prepared by traditional techniques and retain desirable organoleptic characteristics - colour, taste and aroma. The technology platform will deliver customized combinations of micronutrients that can be used for addressing nutritional needs through philanthropic and commercial channels throughout the world.