Where does fortification collide?

In public-health nutrition, fortification is the deliberate addition of vitamins or minerals to commonly eaten foods (iodized salt, iron- or folate-enriched flour, vitamin-A-fortified oil) to prevent micronutrient deficiencies across a population. Darnton-Hill and Nalubola review the strategies, successes, and failures of such programmes. The referent is a nutrient-delivery intervention measured by coverage and deficiency reduction, sharing only the word with adding brandy to wine or a migraine aura.[1]

Unit

The addition of micronutrients to staple foods to reduce deficiency

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Evaluated by fortificant levels in food, population coverage, and change in deficiency prevalence

In neurology, a fortification spectrum (teichopsia) is the characteristic visual aura of migraine: a shimmering, often zig-zag arc of light resembling the plan of a star-shaped fortress that expands across the visual field, trailing a blind region (scotoma), over roughly twenty minutes. Lashley mapped the progression of his own migraine scotomas and inferred a wave of altered activity spreading across the visual cortex. The referent is a transient cortical-visual phenomenon, named only by analogy to a fortress outline, and unrelated to wine or food.[2]

Unit

The expanding geometric visual aura and accompanying scotoma of migraine

Recovery means

The aura resolves as the cortical disturbance passes, typically within an hour

Measured by

Characterised by the shape, expansion rate, and visual-field path of the aura and scotoma