Recovery of Retinol in Soft-Drink Beverages Made with Fortified Unrefined and Refined Sugar: Implications for National Fortification Programs

Retinol (vitamin A) from fortified unrefined sugar was almost completely lost in the production of soft drinks, largely because of its adsorption onto activated carbon and diatomaceous earth that are used to reduce color and to eliminate odors and organic impurities in the purification process. Where refined sugar rather than unrefined sugar was used, the chemical purification step was avoided and 67% of the initial retinol remained in the final product. Nevertheless, even with refined sugar, retinol losses of up to 45% of the postproduction level occurred within 1 week of production although there were no further losses between 1 and 6 weeks postproduction. In other words, only 30% of the total retinol from fortified refined sugar remained in bottled soft drinks after 1 week after production. Retinol accounts for about 90% of the total after costs of a national sugar fortification program, which legislates that all sugar for domestic use be fortified. The use of unfortified sugar in the soft drink industry would result in considerable savings. Between 10 and 30% of national sugar consumption usually goes to this industry. For Guatemala and Honduras, the latter saving would amount to US$ 666,000 per year, which is 17% of the total program costs.