Improving Nutrition A Sprinkle At A Time: Future Fortified

My physician recently advised me to start taking Vitamin D3. When I went to the store to buy some, I faced rows of shelves offering me choices: various formulations, flavors, and strengths.

Adolescent girls, pregnant women, new mothers, and young children in developing countries don't have the luxury of countless mineral and multivitamin choices, nor do they always have a nutritionally rich food supply. They desperately need access to essential nutrients, such as vitamin A, iodine, iron, zinc, and folic acid, to survive. (The first 1,000 Days, from pregnancy through the second year of life, are especially critical.) Beyond improved health, investing in improved nutrition supports progress in education and poverty alleviation.

When I first learned of the Future Fortified program, I was attracted to its practicality.  For example, Future Fortified encourages the use of home nutrition packets, small packets filled with a combination of micro and macro nutrients that are sprinkled onto a child's meal a few times a week. These packets are a proven cost-effective way for mothers around the world to get essential nutrients into their children's (and their own) diets while continuing to consume local foods.

If you are one of my usual readers, you know I love using my blog as a vehicle for messages about causes and ways we can all work together for good. This particular cause had a special appeal to me because the reality of hunger was brought home to me last summer when Tenley and I visited Guatemala. Tenley's sponsored child, Estela, is six years old and the youngest of 10 children. Her family lives on around $60 dollars a month. In Guatemala, the reality of "work for a day, eat for a day" was strikingly obvious. Work is difficult to come by; it is not a matter of willingness to work but rather availability of a job to do.

Future Fortified fills a need, does it efficiently using common sense, and invites us to help in ways as simple as a tweet or as personally involved as a donation.

To learn more about Future Fortified and to discover ways you can get involved, visit their site here.

You can also follow Future Fortified via Facebook and Twitter.

Lastly, this infographic provides an overview of Future Fortified in addition to outlining ways you can become involved in the Future Fortified blogger alliance!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Future Fortified. To thank me for my contribution, Mom Central donated $20 to the Future Fortified campaign.”

*Some of the factual content within this blog was taken from the Future Fortified website.