Potential impact of large-scale food fortification on reducing childhood anemia in Peru: an estimate based on a review of systematic reviews

Velásquez A. · Anales de la Facultad de Medicina (2025) · DOI: 10.15381/anales.v86i1.29375

Resumen

Childhood anemia affects 43%of children under three years old in Peru, primarily due to insufficient iron intake. The World Health Organization recommends fortifying commonly consumed foods with micronutrients as an effective strategy to combat this deficiency. This article assesses the potential impact of large-scale food fortification on reducing childhood anemia in Peru by selecting systematic reviews with high methodological quality and low or higher certainty of evidence. To estimate its impact on children under three years old, the population attributable fraction was applied using effect measures frommeta-analyses included in the selected reviews. Theresults suggest that foodfortificationcouldreducechildhoodanemiaby 7to16percentagepoints, with rice fortification proving to be an effective strategy, achieving a reduction of 10 percentage points.