NPA recommends women avoid undernutrition with daily vitamin

WASHINGTON The Natural Products Association on Wednesday responded to recommendations that women supplement with a daily vitamin to help combat undernutrition, as published this week in the The Lancet in its Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition.

“For all the problems for which there are still no solutions—undernnutrition is not one of them. From that perspective, this report is deeply disturbing,” stated Daniel Fabricant, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs. “On the other hand, it is also very promising because the solutions are at hand—getting people the know-how and the nutrition they need when they need it,” he said.

Supplementing inadequate diets with nutrients like folic acid and vitamin A, which are named in the report, is both an easy and inexpensive solution in helping to prevent birth defects, he added.

“Reports like this, that identify simple and easy ways to save millions of lives—and improve the quality of life for millions more—through an act as simple as taking a vitamin daily, are welcome,” he concluded.