Fortification of beverages for prevention of maternal and infant mortality

微量营养素缺乏对世界上近三分之一的人口造成不利影响。缺铁是造成20多万产妇死亡和每年约500万儿童死亡的主要原因。这一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。有许多方案可以解决这个问题。补铁需要医疗保健监督，强化的人造食品不能到达农村妇女手中，她们不参与现金经济。然而，茶在南亚被普遍和统一地消费，是世界上消费第二多的饮料，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反应，形成令人不快的络合物，而这些络合物是不可生物利用的，从而降低了茶的有益效果。拟议计划的目标是开发一个强化茶、茶饮料和由含有高水平多酚的本地植物制成的饮料的技术平台，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受欢迎的饮料提供更好的营养。我们开发了一种技术，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有效性，并开发了一种分析技术，用于定量任何铁-单宁络合物。虽然该系统生产的茶的颜色和味道都是可以接受的，但当茶是用传统的牛奶煮法煮的时候，颜色是不可接受的。因此，该计划的具体目标是了解不可生物利用的螯合物的形成化学，包括在茶多酚存在的情况下，在茶叶、口腔、胃和小肠中存在的pH和温度下，锌、铁和钙的相互作用，并开发通过化学和物理手段控制微量营养素的输送和释放的技术。由于螯合剂或抗氧化剂不太可能防止茶叶变色，铁、锌和螯合剂将被微胶囊化在可食用聚合物中，这种聚合物在茶的高温下稳定，但会在胃里溶解。我们还将测试微乳液、Pickering乳液和自组装微乳液作为微营养素载体在茶叶存在的情况下。该计划的总体技术目标是开发一个技术平台，该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率，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，可用于通过世界各地的慈善和商业渠道满足营养需求。

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.