Azerbaijan in future now plans to add vitamins to food products such as milk, flour and sugar, to boost the wellness of its general population. This is a process known as food enrichment or fortification, and involves adding micronutrients to various types of foods.
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals and are in opposition to macronutrients, which are foods such as protein and fat. They are needed in very small amounts for all processes in the human body.
They include minerals such as zinc, manganese, copper, iodine and iron and vitamins such as A, C, D, K, E and B.
A parliamentary committee discussed social policy last week and decided on this new course of action as part of a public health protection law.
It sees the addition of the micronutrients as part of an important step to protect the health of the people of Azerbaijan and will roll out the programme by including these important elements in the food products stated above.
Salt has already been enriched in the country of Azerbaijan, according to the chairman of the parliamentary committee, so this further step is just another step on an existing path. The chairman also noted that, in other countries, foods have been enriched as a matter of course for many years.
He claims that this enrichment is responsible for the population becoming an average of eight centimetres taller over the years, and pointed out that micronutrients have no effect on the flavour of a product whatsoever.