 With its geographical position, Mediterranean climate, and fertile lands, Morocco has all the right ingredients for a varied and healthy diet. The nation's cuisine is a colourful mixture of tradition and a little bit of theatre. Dishes like these take time to prepare, and time is what Moroccans in modern-day cities like Rabat don't have. People are coming to one of just a few authentic restaurants to get a taste of home cooking. Morocco is developing fast. As incomes improve and lifestyles change, so does the diet. This is leading to some major nutritional issues in this North African country, including obesity and nutrient deficiency. Based on the results of nationwide studies, the government decided to add vitamins and minerals to staple foods, a process known as fortification. Approximately 37, even more. Women have a relationship with fortification. And there is also the third of children who suffer from a fortification of vitamin A and vitamin D. Also for those who suffer from folic acid, there are also children and women who suffer from it. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, assists countries like Morocco to evaluate their nutrition programmes. IAEA support is based on the use of nuclear techniques that use stable isotopes to find out what's happening in the body. Atoms of elements are made of protons, neutrons and electrons. The atoms that have a different number of neutrons are called isotopes. They can be unstable and emit radiation as they decay or stable. Stable isotopes occur naturally in the environment, in our bodies and our food. They pose no health risk and can be used for studies in people of all ages. Nutrition experts use synthetic stable isotopes. They're added to food or water at a higher level than they occur naturally in our bodies. Using spectrometry devices, they can be traced in samples of blood, urine or saliva. By analysing the isotopes, nutritionists can measure body composition, see how food is used and how the body functions. With this information, they can decide on the best way to treat malnourished people, evaluate progress and see if food fortification programmes are really working. Children in particular are most at risk from malnutrition. They may look healthy, but deficiencies that aren't easily visible can seriously affect their development and leave them more vulnerable to disease. Vitamin A, for instance, is needed for children to grow and develop a strong immune system. But in Morocco, around 40% of children are deficient in this important vitamin. To address this problem, Vitamin A was added to cooking oil, which was sold all over the country. Under a project supported by the IAA, it was given to 100 breastfeeding mothers. They used this oil when cooking the family meals. The aim of the study was to measure the amount of Vitamin A transferred from the mothers to their babies during breastfeeding. I took part in the project because I wanted to try something beneficial for my baby when the oil was transferred from the motherhood, so I was happy to try it. At the Rabat Children's Hospital, the mothers were given a dose of water artificially enriched with deuterium. This is a stable isotope of hydrogen that occurs naturally in our body water. It mixed with the water in the mother's body, including her milk, which is nearly 90% water. Saliva samples were collected from the mothers and babies over a two-week period. The samples were brought to the National Nutritional Research Institute in Rabat. The centre works closely with the IAA and uses stable isotope methods for its research. The nuclear technology provides much more precise information than conventional technologies cannot provide. Nuclear technologies also allow us to evaluate national nutrition programmes. Under this project, the amount of deuterium in the samples was analysed. By measuring the disappearance rate of the isotope in the saliva of the mother and its appearance in the baby's saliva, the researchers could assess how much breast milk the baby had received. A further test showed how much Vitamin A was in the milk. Its concentration in the milk from mothers who used the fortified oil was compared to the level in the milk of mothers who cooked with regular oil. Using the results of both tests, the scientists concluded that the babies of the mothers who used the fortified oil received more Vitamin A than the ones whose mothers didn't consume it. Based on this information, the government decided to continue with oil fortification. Nutrition is a lifelong issue. The IAA will continue to support countries like Morocco so that babies like this one can grow into healthy adults.