More Than Half of the World is Nutrient Deficient

With the popularity of ultra-processed foods in America that are often devoid of any meaningful nutritional value, it's no surprise many in the U.S. are undernourished. But a new study from Harvard, UC Santa Barbara and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) shows that more than half of the world's population is getting inadequate levels of many critical micronutrients on a daily basis.

Micronutrient deficiency can trigger cascading health consequences from blindness to acute and chronic diseases, as well as reducing a person's ability to avoid to infectious diseases.

While previous research looked at nutrient consumption, the purpose of this study was to compare those levels against the requirements recommended for human health. This study looked at inadequacies of 15 vitamins and minerals facing males and females across their lifespan.

Researchers were interested in quantifying how well the overall population is doing in regards to consumption of important nutrients. They looked at the average intake of calcium, iodine, iron, riboflavin, folate, zinc, magnesium, selenium, thiamin, niacin, and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, and E.

"Our study is a big step forward," said co-lead author Chris Free, research professor at UCSB. "Not only because it is the first to estimate inadequate micronutrient intakes for 34 age-sex groups in nearly every country, but also because it makes these methods and results easily accessible to researchers and practitioners."

Scientists used data from several sources to compare the nutritional intake among the populations of 185 countries. It was broken down into males and females in 17 different age groups in 5-year spans from 0-80 as well as an 80+ group.

The level of inadequate intake was especially high, in excess of 60 percent of the global population for iodine, vitamin E, calcium and iron. More than half of the population studied consumed inadequate levels of riboflavin, folate and vitamins C and B6. Consumption of niacin was the closest nutrient to recommended levels with only 22 percent of the population not getting enough.

"These results are alarming," said Ty Beal, senior technical specialist at GAIN. "Most people—even more than previously thought, across all regions and countries of all incomes—are not consuming enough of multiple essential micronutrients. These gaps compromise health outcomes and limit human potential on a global scale."

"The public health challenge facing us is immense, but practitioners and policymakers have the opportunity to identify the most effective dietary interventions and target them to the populations most in need," added senior author Christopher Golden, associate professor of nutrition and planetary health at Harvard Chan School.

Click here to read more in the journal The Lancet Global Health.