VOA新闻杂志2024--Nigeria Aims to Fight Malnutrition with Fortified Bouillon Cubes

In her small kitchen, Idowu Bello looks over a gas cooker while stirring a pot of eba, the thick West African food made from cassava root. Kidney problems and chronic¹ exhaustion² forced the 56-year-old Nigerian woman to retire from teaching.

Lack of money limits the food Bello has. But doctors have told her to eat a nutrient-rich diet to improve her health and to help her teenage daughter, Fatima, grow.

"Fish, meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables and even milk are costly³ these days," Bello said.

But if public health experts and the Nigerian government have their way, Bello and others will soon have a simple ingredient they can use to improve their nutrition.

Government officials recently announced rules for adding iron, zinc⁴, folic acid and vitamin B12 to bouillon cubes. The cubes are made from dried meat and vegetables and spices. People usually use them to add taste to soups and stews⁵.

Manufacturers do not yet have to add the four vitamins and minerals to their cubes. But if they choose to add them, the new rules state how they must include them.

The use of fortified⁶ cubes could help speed up efforts to improve diets lacking necessary micronutrients such as zinc and iron. Public health officials call the lack of such micronutrients "hidden hunger".

A new report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation states that fortified cubes could help prevent up to 16.6 million cases of anemia⁷ and up to 11,000 deaths from neural⁸ tube defects in Nigeria. Many Nigerian children are also growing less during childhood because of lack of nutrition.

"Everyone uses seasoning⁹ cubes," Bello said as she dropped one in her soup.

A recent Nigerian government study estimated that 79 percent of Nigerian households are food insecure. Extreme heat and changes in rainfall have hurt farming in Nigeria and other countries near the southern part of the Saharan desert.

Helen Keller International (HKI) is a New York-based nonprofit that works to solve problems caused by blindness and malnutrition¹⁰. It has partnered with the Gates Foundation, businesses and government agencies in Africa to support food fortification.

Augustine Okoruwa is a nutrition expert at HKI. He said the destruction of farmland has caused food prices to increase. That has made it more difficult for people to get animal-based protein into their diet.

In Nigeria, recent economic policies such as the cancellation¹¹ of gasoline subsidies¹² are driving the country's worst cost-of-living crisis in many years. It has become even more difficult for low-earning Nigerians to pay for the food they need.

Around the world, nearly 3 billion people are unable to get enough healthy food. More than 70 percent of them live in developing countries, the World Health Organization says.

The Gates Foundation said that greatly increasing fortified foods would offer a new way to increase micronutrients in foods that people commonly eat in low-income countries.

A study by HKI notes that bouillon cubes are used in nearly every household in countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon. That makes the cubes the "most cost-effective way" to add minerals and vitamins to the diets of millions of people, Okoruwa said.

No Nigerian manufacturers already include the four micronutrients at the amounts stated by the new rules. However, the food industry is showing interest.

Sweet Nutrition, based in Ota, started adding iron to some of its products in 2017. Marketing¹³ manager Roop Kumar told The Associated Press that the move was meant to support public health.

Kumar added that the company is testing plans for more fortification with the launch of the new rules.

Okoruwa of HKI said one problem with marketing fortified foods is that many people have received false information about them.

Yunusa Mohammed is the head of the food group at the Standards Organization of Nigeria, the government agency that sets rules for many products people buy. He said educating people about the benefits of fortified products may help push back against the misinformation. He added that there is a need to keep the cost of fortified foods low.

Food fortification is not new in Nigeria. Most of the salt in the country contains iodine¹⁴. And products such as wheat flour, cooking oil and sugar are fortified with vitamin A by law. But the rule for adding the four vitamins and minerals to bouillon marks the biggest step in fortification.

Company officials, government agencies, research groups and development organizations are working together to support putting the micronutrients in cubes.

Words in This Story

kitchen - n. a room where people cook

chronic - adj. happening over and over again for a long period of time

exhaustion - n. a condition of being extremely tired

ingredient - n. all of the things that are part of a mixture, especially those things that make a dish people eat

fortify¹⁵ - v. strengthen

anemia - n. a condition of not having enough iron in the blood

neural - adj. relating to nerves or neurons

tube - n. a long hollow object that is round, like a pipe

subsidy¹⁶ - n. financial support given from one person or group to another

1 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

2 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

5 stews   

n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews. 玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most stews contain meat and vegetables. 炖的食物大多是肉类和蔬菜。 来自辞典例句

6 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

7 anemia   

n.贫血，贫血症

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。
• I was put on iron tablets for my anemia.我曾因贫血吃补铁药片。

8 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

9 seasoning   

n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物

参考例句：

• Salt is the most common seasoning.盐是最常用的调味品。
• This sauce uses mushroom as its seasoning.这酱油用蘑菇作调料。

10 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

11 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

12 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

14 iodine   

n.碘，碘酒

参考例句：

• The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
• Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。

15 fortify   

v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化

参考例句：

• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
• This treaty forbade the United States to fortify the canal.此条约禁止美国对运河设防。

16 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。