Global Study Reveals Widespread Micronutrient Deficiencies

TUESDAY, Sept. 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) — More than 5 billion people globally do not consume enough iodine, vitamin E, and calcium, according to a study published online Aug. 29 in The Lancet Global Health.

Simone Passarelli, Ph.D., from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues estimated micronutrient intake using a novel approach accounting for the shape of a population”s nutrient intake distribution, based on dietary intake data from 31 countries. These distributions were applied to data for 185 countries for 34 age-sex groups to estimate the prevalence of nutrient intakes for 99.3 percent of the global population.

The researchers found that more than 5 billion people do not consume enough iodine, vitamin E, and calcium (68, 67, and 66 percent of the global population, respectively). More than 4 billion people do not consume enough iron, riboflavin, folate, and vitamin C (65, 55, 54, and 53 percent, respectively). Within the same country and age groups, estimated inadequate intakes were higher for women with regards to iodine, vitamin B₁₂, iron, and selenium, and for men with regards to magnesium, vitamin B₆, zinc, vitamin C, vitamin A, thiamin, and niacin.

“We hope this analysis sheds light on crucial nutrition challenges for locations without the necessary means to collect primary data, and improves understanding of global micronutrient inadequacy so that public health interventions can more effectively address deficiencies,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

Editorial