Micronutrient deficiencies are a form of malnutrition resulting from low intake, low absorption or impaired metabolism of minerals and vitamins. Minerals play central roles in the development and maintenance of healthy brain and neural function, a robust immune system and a strong skeleton. Vitamins are central to development and maintenance of healthy vision, skin integrity and immune function, as well as muscle, bone and connective tissues, energy metabolism and neural development. Classical symptoms of deficiencies of vitamins and minerals are not common among most European populations, and consequently, subclinical deficiencies go unobserved, until the systems they support start to exhibit signs of disease, or in children, of impaired development. As underlying micronutrient deficiencies can exist unaccompanied by obvious clinical signs, they are termed ‘Hidden Hunger’. The silent impacts of Hidden Hunger have a detrimental effect throughout a person’s life - on pregnancy outcomes, growth and development, educational achievement, career opportunities and by accelerating the aging process. By impacting individual work capacity, Hidden Hunger hinders the development potential of societies and countries.
While everyone is at risk of Hidden Hunger, individuals at critical junctures of development, such as children and pregnant women, face higher risk as their micronutrient requirements are relatively high compared with their energy intakes. Those with impaired micronutrient absorption or utilisation, and people who are disadvantaged due to social and economic reasons, or facing unstable food and nutrition security, are at risk.
While some countries have micronutrient-related datasets that inform national policies, Europe lacks an estimate of Hidden Hunger prevalence across the region.
As such, there is no basis to estimate costs, to individuals or society, or to develop effective public health programmes for its prevention and management.
Data requirements to start working towards eradication of Hidden Hunger in Europe are:
1) prevalence of mineral and vitamin deficiencies
2) causes and risk predictors of micronutrient deficiencies and
3) health burdens and costs of hidden hunger
Provision of these data is the first step to developing proposals for micronutrient deficiency prevention that can compel a call to action. As proposals must be context-specific, sustainable, healthy and cost-effective, the Zero_HiddenHunger_EU project will provide data on the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies, their causes and costs, and start developing evidence-based food-first proposals for prevention.
Nutrients of public health concern prioritised in the project are iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, magnesium, potassium, selenium, vitamins A, D, folate, B12, and riboflavin.
The core objective of the first 30 months of Zero_HiddenHunger_EU is to address the question: What is the true prevalence of Hidden Hunger, what causes it and how much does it cost?
