Vitamins in Motion
Campaign Overview
WHY VITAMINS
Vitamins and minerals – micronutrients – are essential for good health and disease
prevention in every stage of the human lifecycle: from pregnancy through infancy and
childhood and into adulthood and old age. Vitamins are essential micronutrients that our
bodies need in small quantities in order to grow, function, stay healthy and prevent disease.
But humans don’t produce vitamins on our own, so we need to get them from our diet, or
through supplementation or fortification.
Yet vitamin deficiencies continue to impact both developing and developed countries. Today,
nearly 2 billion people worldwide cannot access or afford enough nutritious food, and therefore
live with a chronic shortage of vital micronutrients – a condition known as hidden hunger.
Over time, hidden hunger not only has detrimental effects on the health and productivity
of individuals, but also on the social and economic development of a country and already
stretched health budgets. Even in the wealthiest countries, shifting patterns of diet and lifestyle
are leading to poor nutrition, while caloric imbalance is contributing to rising rates of obesity
and costly noncommunicable diseases, like diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
VITAMINS IN MOTION
Vitamins in Motion is an initiative to raise awareness and advocate for increased access,
through innovative solutions, to the essential vitamins all people need to be healthy and
well nourished. Vitamins in Motion aims to highlight the critical role vitamins play in overall
nutrition and health across the lifecycle in both developing and developed countries, and
calls for finding and implementing scalable, cost-effective solutions to address the world’s
vitamin deficiencies.
Research shows that micronutrient interventions like vitamin supplementation and food
fortification improve health, save lives and increase productivity. In 2012, the Copenhagen
Consensus expert panel found that providing micronutrients to children is the single
smartest way to spend global aid dollars, with every $1 spent yielding $30 in benefits.
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Investing in vitamin A and zinc supplementation saves an estimated 145,000 lives
each year;
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olic acid fortification has led to a 50 percent decline in brain and spine defects in
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babies; and
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itamin E functions as a powerful biological antioxidant, protecting our cells,
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tissues and organs from damage.
DSM and Sight and Life have a long history of combating micronutrient deficiencies
around the world, and are committed to putting Vitamins in Motion. To us, this means:
• We conduct cutting-edge research in vitamin science to uncover innovative
solutions to address the world’s micronutrient deficiencies with new and
improved nutrition products, such as fortified blended foods, micronutrient
powder packets and fortified rice. As one example, rice is the world’s most
important staple food, making up 20 percent of all calories consumed globally, yet
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it lacks the vitamins and minerals necessary for good health. Scientists at DSM
developed an innovative rice kernel called NutriRice™, which is added to natural
rice and provides essential micronutrients. A pilot project by the Chinese Center for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that NutriRice™ reduced the effects of
micronutrient deficiencies by 50 percent, raised pupils’ general nutritional condition
to the average urban level and improved physical performance and concentration.
NutriRice™ is now widely used in some developing countries, helping to improve the
health and productivity of whole populations.
• We forge partnerships with organizations like the UN World Food
Programme (WFP), UNICEF, Vitamin Angels, GIZ (German International
Development Agency), the International Osteoporosis Foundation and World
Vision to advocate for and deliver micronutrients to populations at risk.
DSM recognizes that addressing nutrition is critical to achieving the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals. As part of the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact,
DSM has committed to help provide effective nutrition interventions to 50 million
pregnant and lactating women and children under 2 per year by 2020. The company
will reach these individuals through ongoing advocacy efforts and by using its sphere
of influence, as well as through existing public-private partnerships, such as with WFP,
Vitamin Angels and World Vision.
• We convene key stakeholders to break down silos and seek new solutions
in the fight against malnutrition. In early 2014, with partners from WFP and
Columbia University, Sight and Life convened key thinkers and leaders from a diverse
range of nutrition and nutrition-related fields in Castel Gandolfo. The purpose for
this meeting was to start a much-needed discussion on what the post-2015 nutrition
workforce needs to look like if we are to ensure adequate, safe and nutritious food for
all in an environmentally sustainable manner. The discussion focused on key technical,
human resource management and leadership competencies.
• We raise awareness of inadequate micronutrient intake in developing and
developed countries, and the impact on healthy aging, health care systems
and maternal and child health. The Sight and Life Hidden Hunger Index and Maps,
launched in 2013, for the first time illustrated the combined prevalence of multiple
micronutrient deficiencies – vitamin A, zinc, iron and iodine – in preschool children.
This valuable tool helps governments and partners translate nutrition commitments into
actions through informed policy and program decisions. This Hidden Hunger Index
is currently being updated to include changes in hidden hunger over the past two
decades.
DSM and Sight and Life are committed to scaling up these solutions. We must shine a
spotlight on the power of vitamins in unlocking human potential so that we can nourish
children, build strong families and create vibrant communities. Only then can everyone,
everywhere contribute to a shared, prosperous future.
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