Use of fortified foods for Indonesian infants

Complementary feeding of Indonesian infants is characterized by rice-based diet with predominantly plant rather than animal source foods and thus is associated with low nutrient density particularly for iron, zinc, and calcium. • Intakes of fortified foods (FF) among Indonesian infants are increasing within the past 5 years with trend of higher intakes in urban than rural area. Fortified infant cereals are only typically consumed by younger (6-8 months) rather than older (9-11 months) infants, putting older infants at higher risk of inadequate micronutrient intakes. • Fortified foods can increase intakes of iron, zinc, and calcium by 31-45 % of the estimated needs from complementary feeding. In addition fortified foods can improve energy balance of the diet toward higher proportion of energy from fat and protein and lower proportion of energy from carbohydrate. • Level of fortification should consider the problem nutrients in this age group (iron, zinc, calcium); the recommended proportion of fatty acids to optimize growth, development, and long-term health; and the actual portion infants actually consume. Multiple nutrients added at moderate amount are preferred over single nutrient added in high amount. • Fortification of staples-in addition to the existing manufactured infant cereals, noodle, and biscuits-is promising alternative and may be a more feasible one under poorer community in which intake of problem nutrients especially iron is difficult to be met with nutrient-dense foods or fortified foods.