Researchers Want To Directly Fortify Your Meals With The Required Daily Vitamins

It’s no secret that meals and snacks contain additives and other substances that significantly lower their nutritional value. Not to mention the effects climate change has on our agriculture and livestock, which make them a lot less healthy than they once were.

Scientists at MIT are discovering new ways of fortifying our food and adding vitamins.
 
One way in particular that the team is looking at ensures we get the right amount of Vitamin A. The lack of it can lead to problems with the immune system, or even blindness in children. 
 
When vitamins are added to meals in a loose form, they don’t last as long, and by the time the food is cooked and ingested, their benefits are essentially negligible.
 
The research team has instead found a way to encapsulate these microparticles in polymer capsules through a study published in PNAS. During the experimentation phase, this was added to flour and bouillon cubes to see if they would survive in storage. 
 
The polymer used in this case is BMC, which the Food and Drug Administration has approved for coating drugs and supplements.
 
Vitamin A and BMC were mixed to form 100 to 200 microns wide particles. It was then coated in starch to keep them from sticking together. 
 
After the team had introduced it to the flour and bouillon cubes, they stored it in extreme heat, 104 degrees Fahrenheit, to see how it would fare in developing countries. When checked, scientists found that 30% of it had been absorbed.
 
They proceeded to test on a small group of women and found that after 24 hours, their blood results showed the same amount of absorption as someone who had ingested “free” Vitamin A which has not come in contact with food.
 
This means that instead of constantly remembering your daily intake in the form of capsules and tablets, they could soon be added straight to your supply of meals and ingested at the same time. This eliminates the idea of having people cultivate new habits altogether.
 
Several companies specializing in fortifying food have already received the license to utilize the encapsulated vitamin A.
 
 
 
[via New Atlas and MIT, Photo 102532611 © Olga Klochanko | Dreamstime.com]