Health
Bouillon Fortification Strategy To Address Nigeria’s Hidden Nutritional Crisis
By Lilian U. Okoro
Nigeria continues to battle widespread micronutrient deficiencies, often termed hidden hunger, which severely compromise the overall health, growth, and cognitive development of vulnerable mothers and young children nationwide.
However, food fortification is a proven public health strategy to enrich everyday dietary staples with vital micronutrients to bridge critical nutritional gaps across all diverse socioeconomic Nigerian populations, health experts say.
One of such fortification ways is the use of bouillon/bouillon cubes, an ideal vehicle for delivering essential micronutrients like iron, zinc, and folic acid across Nigeria.
Fortifying bouillon would strengthen national nutrition initiatives, significantly reducing preventable maternal anaemia and childhood mortality while driving sustainable public health outcomes throughout both rural and urban Nigerian local communities.
A Condiment Micronutrient Innovation Trial (CoMIT) research revealed the need for mandatory standards for bouillon fortification as a strategy to address inequities in the micronutrient adequacy of diets in Nigeria.
The research showed that in the rigorously designed, double-blind randomised controlled trial, households were allocated to receive either multiple micronutrient-fortified bouillon containing folic acid (B9), vitamin B12, iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin A or a control bouillon containing iodine only.
It identified bouillon as a viable mass delivery route for a nutrient previously reliant on animal-source foods.
It said that Nigeria’s deficits spanned several nutrients, but that folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12 presented a particular and urgent challenge, one for which bouillon fortification offered a uniquely powerful and proven solution.
The Federal Government also recognised the dire impact of micronutrient deficiencies in Nigeria.
Dr Iziaq Salako, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, at the opening of the 2025 National Micronutrient Conference, had noted that micronutrient deficiencies, often described as “hidden hunger,” remained a major impediment to Nigeria’s development, particularly among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.
According to him, poor nutrition contributes to stunt growth, weak immunity, impaired cognitive development and reduced productivity, thereby perpetuating a cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.
He cited findings from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey which showed that stunting remained at 40 per cent, wasting at eight per cent and underweight prevalence at 27 per cent among children aged six to 59 months.
“These statistics underscore the urgency of addressing malnutrition as a fundamental challenge to human capital development and national prosperity,” the minister said.
Also, Dr Osita Okonkwo, Country Director, Nutrition International Nigeria, described micronutrient deficiency as a silent epidemic.
“Micronutrient deficiency does not announce itself.
“Unlike acute malnutrition, it operates invisibly, eroding cognitive development in children, undermining maternal health and compounding cycles of poverty across generations,” he had said at a nutrition conference in Lagos.
Okonkwo also noted that Nigeria recorded the second-highest child stunting rate in the world in the 2023–2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, warning that stunting is largely irreversible after a child’s second birthday.
Among the most serious consequences of folate deficiency are neural tube defects (NTDs), including spina bifida, anencephaly and encephalocele. These birth defects develop during the first 28 days of pregnancy, often before many women know they are pregnant.
The Condiment Micronutrient Innovation Trial (CoMIT) survey had participants including children aged 2–5 years, non-pregnant women of reproductive age, and lactating women.
According to report, the CoMIT trial is the most rigorous clinical evaluation of bouillon fortification in a West African context to date, summarising bouillon as a viable mass delivery route for a nutrient previously reliant on animal-source foods.
“Conducted in a population broadly representative of sub-Saharan Africa’s nutritional profile, it provides the evidentiary basis for mandatory policy action in Nigeria and across the region.
“Bouillon is used in virtually every Nigerian household across income levels, geography, and ethnicity. No other single food vehicle achieves comparable penetration.
“Salt coverage is similarly high, but bouillon’s advantage is the combination of reach with heat stability for B9 and B12 specifically.
“Nigeria’s deficits span several nutrients, but folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12 present a particular and urgent challenge, one for which bouillon fortification offers a uniquely powerful and proven solution,” it said.
It stated that six properties make bouillon the optimal and, in many populations, the only viable delivery mechanism for folate and B12 at the scale required.
The properties were its universal household reach, equity where it matters most, no behaviour change required, nutrients survive the cooking process, no organoleptic impact and population-scale impact at minimal cost.
According to the survey, Nigeria ranks second in global hidden hunger indices among the world’s most populous nations, as more than 40 per cent of women of reproductive age had inadequate folate intake.
“Micronutrient deficiency does not announce itself. Unlike acute malnutrition, it operates invisibly eroding cognitive development in children, undermining maternal health, and compounding cycles of poverty across generations.
“Nigeria’s deficits span several nutrients. But , folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12 present a particular and urgent challenge, one for which bouillon fortification offers a uniquely powerful and proven solution,” it said.
According to the survey, neural tube defects including spina bifida, anencephaly, and encephalocele are among the most serious and preventable consequences of folate deficiency.
“Folate deficiency is the primary preventable cause. Population-level fortification reduces NTD risk by up to 70 per cent without requiring any individual action, making it one of the highest-impact public health interventions available.
“Vitamin B12 and folate are metabolically interdependent: B12 is required for folate to function correctly in the body. A deficiency in B12 renders adequate folate intake ineffective, both must be addressed together.
“These conditions form during the first weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman knows she was pregnant, making periconceptional nutrition critical,” it said.(NAN)www.nannews.ng
Edited by Vivian Ihechu