Abstract
A key distinguishing feature of Latin America is that 75% of the population is urban, and this proportion is projected to rise to 82% by 2025. Because markets for processed foods are more developed in urban than in rural areas, fortification has a comparative advantage in Latin America relative to other regions. In fact, fortification has been highly successful in Latin America. Salt iodination programmes are the most widespread, followed by fortification of sugar with vitamin A; fortification of wheat with thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid; and fortification of margarine. At least 13 Latin American countries now have vitamin A supplementation programmes, which are relatively new to Latin America. A mix of types of fortification, supplementation, and food-based interventions will be needed in the future. Efforts should continue in the implementation of activities such as home gardens, small-animal production, and promotion of edible, native plants. Genetic manipulation through plant-breeding can alter in a positive way desirable functional properties of foods as well as the concentration and properties of macro- and micronutrients. The benefits of functional characteristics bred into plants have been clearly demonstrated (e.g., fatty acid profiles, delayed ripening), but not the benefits for human nutrition, except in laboratory situations. The plant-breeding approach needs additional, interdisciplinary research at various points in the food chain to establish the benefit for human nutrition.