ANALYSIS: Why experts want Nigeria to fortify seasoning cubes

There is a renewed push by nutrition and health experts to make the fortification of seasoning cubes mandatory to tackle Nigeria’s micronutrient deficiencies.

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The call focuses on adding vitamin B9 (folic acid) and vitamin B12 to seasoning cubes, also known as bouillon cubes, which are widely used in Nigerian households.

In 2024, Nigeria introduced voluntary standards for bouillon fortification, allowing manufacturers to add vitamin B9, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and iodine.

Experts now want the government to make the standards mandatory, arguing that voluntary adoption may not provide the population-wide coverage needed.

Why seasoning cubes, and why now? PREMIUM TIMES examines the evidence behind the renewed call for mandatory fortification.

Why seasoning cubes?

Experts are considering seasoning cubes due to their widespread use in Nigerian households.

A 2024 study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences found that more than 99 per cent of Nigerian households consumed bouillon, compared with less than 20 per cent of national consumption of branded wheat flour and less than one per cent of the national consumption of branded maize flour.

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The study found that this widespread consumption could make bouillon an effective vehicle for reaching households that may not be reached as well by some other fortified foods.

It also found differences in the consumption of other food vehicles across income groups and regions. This is significant because Nigeria already has fortification programmes covering foods such as flour and refined oil, but these foods do not reach all households equally.

The idea of using bouillon this way is not entirely new in Nigeria either. In its 2021 National Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Micronutrient Deficiencies, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare identified bouillon cubes as a potential vehicle for voluntary micronutrient fortification. It called for further research into their use, including the feasibility of adding vitamin B9 and iron.

Three years later, Nigeria introduced voluntary standards allowing manufacturers to fortify bouillon cubes with vitamin B9, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and iodine.

A separate report by BioAnalyst estimated that more than 100 million bouillon cubes are sold daily in Nigeria, citing studies on their widespread consumption across West Africa.

Therefore, the argument is that the reach of seasoning cubes could allow essential nutrients to reach households that existing fortification programmes may miss.

What experts say

Olusola Malomo, assistant director of dietetics at the Lagos State Health Service Commission, told PREMIUM TIMES that seasoning cubes could provide a way of reaching people across income groups “without requiring them to change their eating habits.”

“They provide an opportunity to reach women before pregnancy, when adequate folate is most important for preventing neural tube defects,” Mr Malomo added.

Odunayo Babatunde, a maternal and child health nutritionist, estimated that about 95 per cent of Nigerians use seasoning cubes, including poorer households, which may have less access to other nutrient-rich foods.

Mrs Babatunde also said vitamins B9 and B12 can be incorporated into dry seasoning cubes without changing their colour, taste or shelf life.

“If it is made mandatory, it guarantees that even the poorest women can easily access vitamin B9/12 by just having regular meals at home,” she added.

Nutritional gap

The concern is that existing food-fortification programmes are not enough to eliminate micronutrient gaps.

The Nigeria-specific study found that, even after accounting for existing fortification programmes, vitamin B12 inadequacy affected 42 per cent of women of reproductive age and 39 per cent of children aged six to 59 months.

The researchers estimated vitamin B12 inadequacy at 75 per cent among women and 68 per cent among children in the poorest socioeconomic group. They also found higher levels of inadequacy among rural populations and modelled how adding nutrients to bouillon could help close these gaps.

They concluded that bouillon fortification could substantially reduce inadequacies in several micronutrients and improve equity between poorer and wealthier households and between rural and urban populations.

Why vitamin B9?

Vitamin B9 is also in the spotlight because of its role in early pregnancy.

Neural tube defects, including spina bifida and anencephaly, develop during the first weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman knows she is pregnant. Adequate vitamin B9 intake before conception and during early pregnancy can substantially reduce the risk.

Mrs Babatunde told PREMIUM TIMES that vitamin B9 is particularly important during the first 28 days of pregnancy because of its role in cell division and neural tube development.

“Currently, over 80 per cent of pregnant women and more than 90 per cent of women of childbearing age in Nigeria are vitamin B9 deficient,” she said.

As a result, experts see population-wide food fortification as a possible complement to supplementation.

A Lagos-based neurosurgeon, Oluwafemi Owagbemi, who has treated patients with spina bifida, made a similar argument in an opinion piece published by TheCable.

Mr Owagbemi wrote that knowledge of folate deficiency alone was not enough when women could not consistently access nutrient-rich diets. For him, food fortification provides a way of delivering nutrients through foods people already consume.

Concerned parties have estimated that Nigeria could record nearly 11,000 babies with neural tube defects annually, based on an estimated rate of 14.2 cases per 10,000 live births and about 7.5 million births a year.

The case for vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is also receiving attention for its role in blood formation and neurological function, as well as its relationship to vitamin B9 metabolism.

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Mr Babatunde further explained that vitamin B12 is often overlooked, even though it is important to the body’s use of vitamin B9. She described the two nutrients as closely linked and argued that addressing B9 without considering B12 could leave an important gap.

The Nigeria-specific modelling also highlights the need for attention to vitamin B12. The researchers modelled that fortifying bouillon with 1.2 microgrammes of vitamin B12 per gram could reduce national vitamin B12 inadequacy from 42 per cent to about one per cent among women of reproductive age and children.

Among women in the poorest socioeconomic group, the model projected a 71-percentage-point reduction, while the reduction among children in the same group was estimated at 66 percentage points.

These are modelled results, not evidence from a nationwide Nigerian fortification programme. The researchers themselves noted that fortification levels would need to be carefully designed to maximise nutritional benefits while limiting the risk of excessive intake.

Does fortified bouillon work?

Experts pushing for mandatory standards argue that voluntary adoption is unlikely to provide the coverage required.

The argument is also supported by clinical evidence from the Condiment Micronutrient Innovation Trial (CoMIT), conducted in northern Ghana.

The CoMIT was a double-masked, randomised controlled trial involving more than 2,000 participants. Participants included children, women of reproductive age and lactating women.

Those who received bouillon fortified with multiple micronutrients, including vitamin B9 and B12, recorded improvements in blood folate and vitamin B12 status.

The trial provides evidence that fortified bouillon can deliver these nutrients through regular household consumption. However, it does not prove that the same results would automatically occur across Nigeria.

The Nigerian research models what could happen using Nigerian household consumption data, while the Ghana trial provides clinical evidence of what fortified bouillon can do in people.

NAFDAC’s position

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is examining the feasibility of using bouillon as an additional vehicle for food fortification.

NAFDAC Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, recently told The Guardian newspaper that the agency was working with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to assess the feasibility of using seasoning cubes to deliver essential micronutrients.

Mrs Adeyeye said the initiative forms part of NAFDAC’s broader efforts to strengthen large-scale food fortification and that the agency is also digitising monitoring and reporting systems to improve compliance and traceability.

The 2021 national micronutrient guidelines already identify NAFDAC, alongside the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), as key regulators in Nigeria’s food-fortification programme.

The guidelines also call for regular monitoring of fortified products to ensure compliance.

The sodium concern

The proposal also comes with a concern about sodium. Seasoning cubes can contribute to sodium intake, and nutrition experts have warned that fortification should not encourage Nigerians to consume more of the product, as it contains added vitamins.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the primary health effect of high sodium intake is raised blood pressure, which significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and coronary heart disease.

Mrs Babatunde, therefore, argued that any mandatory fortification policy should go hand in hand with efforts to reduce sodium consumption.

The objective, she said, should be to improve the nutritional value of the quantity of seasoning cubes people already consume, not to encourage greater consumption.

Ultimately, the debate over mandatory fortification is about whether Nigeria can use an existing dietary habit to address significant micronutrient gaps without creating new health concerns.