Fortification of beverages for prevention of maternal and infant mortality

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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.