vitamin d food fortification is an effective approach for improving vitamin d status; a systematic review

background: low vitamin d (vit d) serum levels have been linked to various diseases such as multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes. maintenance of optimal vit d level should be supported by foods and supplements. limited food sources of vit d made researchers focus on food fortification in recent years. methods: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials reporting the impact of vit d food fortification on 25-hydroxy vitamin d [25(oh)d] level was conducted on pubmed, scopus, isi web of science and google scholar from inception up to august 2017. results: sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria and most of them (n =14) have represented the significant effect of food fortification on the improvement of vit d status of the participants. however, two studies failed to find any reasonable associations. furthermore, it was observed that vit d food fortification has a greater impact on the people with lower 25(oh)d serum levels. conclusions: fortification of foods with vit d has a significant impact on serum 25(oh)d concentrations. therefore, food enrichment is an economical and effective approach for different populations to prevent vit d deficiency.