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cousin so it can be taken to market earlier. It can also be done through public health education, making the benefits of eating biofortified foods apparent to consumers. Trials suggest that the rural poor âwill consume biofortified versions of food staples even if the color of the food has been changedâŚif they are educated as to the benefitâ. While other micronutrients such as zinc or iron can be added to crops without noticeably changing their taste or appearance, some researchers emphasize the importance of ensuring that consumers do not think that their food has been altered without their authorization or knowledge.
219:
carbohydrate staples.â This may seem irresponsible, as lack of access to a diverse and balanced diet is the major cause of malnutrition. As a result these critics urge caution, and the use of biofortification as part of a larger strategy involving diversification of foods in low and middle-income countries. Advocates of biofortification accept this as a long term strategy, but state that substantially increasing diet diversity will take âmany decades and untold billions of dollarsâ, and that biofortification could be an effective strategy to help reduce micronutrient malnutrition.
180:. Although these approaches have proven successful when dealing with the urban poor, they tend to require access to effective markets and healthcare systems which often just do not exist in rural areas. Biofortification is also fairly cost effective after an initial large research investment â where seeds can be distributed, the âimplementation costs are nil or negligibleâ, as opposed to supplementation which is comparatively expensive and requires continued financing over time, which may be jeopardized by fluctuating political interest.
757:
740:
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measurable positive impact on human health. As such, they must be developed with the involvement of nutritionists who study whether the consumers of the improved crop can absorb the extra nutrients, and the extent to which storage, processing, and cooking of the crops affect their available nutrient levels. Bread wheat with high grain iron and zinc has been developed through radiation breeding.
211:
white maize is eaten by humans and yellow maize is negatively associated with animal feed or food aid, or where white-fleshed sweet potato is preferred to its moister, orange-fleshed counterpart. Some qualities may be relatively simple to mitigate or breed out of biofortified crops according to consumer demand, such as the moistness of the sweet potato, whereas others cannot be.
157:, which are low in these micronutrients, and most cannot afford or efficiently cultivate enough fruits, vegetables or meat products that are necessary to obtain healthy levels of these nutrients. As such, increasing the micronutrient levels in staple crops can help prevent and reduce the micronutrient deficiencies â in one trial in Mozambique, eating
214:
Where this is the case, care must be taken to convince the local farmers and consumers that the crop in question is worth growing and consuming. This can be done through improving the cultivation qualities of the plant, for example making the orange sweet-potato mature earlier than its white-fleshed
210:
There may occasionally be difficulties in getting biofortified foods to be accepted if they have different characteristics to their unfortified counterparts. For example, vitamin A enhanced foods are often dark yellow or orange in color â this for example is problematic for many in Africa, where
356:
Verma, Shailender Kumar; Kumar, Satish; Sheikh, Imran; Malik, Sachin; Mathpal, Priyanka; Chugh, Vishal; Kumar, Sundip; Prasad, Ramasare; Dhaliwal, Harcharan Singh (2016-03-03). "Transfer of useful variability of high grain iron and zinc from
Aegilops kotschyi into wheat through seed irradiation
144:
are common in low and middle-income countries and affect billions of people. These can lead to, amongst other symptoms, a higher incidence of blindness, a weaker immune system, stunted growth and impaired cognitive development. The poor, particularly the rural poor, tend to subsist on a diet of
58:
because it focuses on making plant foods more nutritious as the plants are growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed. This is an important improvement on ordinary fortification when it comes to providing nutrients for the rural poor, who rarely have
87:
for existing varieties of crops which are naturally high in nutrients. They then crossbreed these high-nutrient varieties with high-yielding varieties of crops, to provide a seed with high yields and increased nutritional value. Crops must be bred with sufficient amounts of nutrients to have a
218:
Some have criticized biofortification programs because they may encourage âfurther simplification of human diets and food systemsâ, because â a strategy that aims to concentrate more nutrients in few staple foods may contribute to further simplifying diets already overly dependent on a few
442:
161:
biofortified with beta-carotene reduced the incidence of vitamin A deficiency in children by 24%. In two separate randomized clinical trials in India, eating iron- and zinc- biofortified
195:
have been looking for ways to boost the low selenium levels in
British grains, and have been working to help develop a grain to be used in making bread biofortified with selenium.
244:
567:
Mehta, S; Huey, SL; Ghugre, PS; Potdar, RD; Venkatramanan, S; Krisher; ruth; Chopra; Thorat; Thakker; Johnson; Powis; Raveendran; Haas; Finkelstein (April 2022).
458:
95:
in the development of biofortified crops, primarily use conventional breeding techniques, and have not yet spent more than 15% of their research budget on
342:
Wolfgang H. Pfeiffer & Bonnie McClafferty, âBiofortification: Breeding
Micronutrient-Dense Cropsâ, in Manjit S. Kang & P.M. Priyadarshan (eds.),
439:
569:"A randomized trial of iron- and zinc-biofortified pearl millet-based complementary feeding in children aged 12 to 18 months living in urban slums"
827:
105:
is an example of a GM crop developed for its nutritional value. The latest version of golden rice contains genes from a common soil bacterium
273:"Biofortified Crops Generated by Breeding, Agronomy, and Transgenic Approaches Are Improving Lives of Millions of People around the World"
700:âPatterns of Political Response to Biofortified Varieties of Crops Produced with Different Breeding Techniques and Agronomic Traitsâ
503:âPatterns of Political Response to Biofortified Varieties of Crops Produced with Different Breeding Techniques and Agronomic Traitsâ
204:
640:
702:
505:
27:, an example of biofortification using genetic engineering. The golden color of the grains comes from the increased amounts of
526:
Finkelstein, J; Mehta, S; Udipi, S; Ghugre, PS; Luna, SV; Wenger, MJ; Murray-Kolb, LE; Przybyszewski, E; Haas, J (July 2015).
91:
This method is prevalent at present, as it is less controversial than genetically engineering crops. HarvestPlus, a major
820:
249:
183:
Research on this approach is being undertaken internationally, with major efforts ongoing in Brazil, China and India.
326:
271:
Garg, Monika; Sharma, Natasha; Sharma, Saloni; Kapoor, Payal; Kumar, Aman; Chunduri, Venkatesh; Arora, Priya (2018).
115:
which can be converted by the body into vitamin A. Golden rice is being developed as a potential new way to address
758:âBiofortification, biodiversity and diet: A search for complementary applications against poverty and malnutritionâ
741:âBiofortification, biodiversity and diet: A search for complementary applications against poverty and malnutritionâ
724:âBiofortification, biodiversity and diet: A search for complementary applications against poverty and malnutritionâ
59:
access to commercially fortified foods. As such, biofortification is seen as an upcoming strategy for dealing with
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902:
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concentrations in younger male children, and in children ages 12-18 months who were iron-deficient at baseline.
813:
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estimated that biofortification could help cure the 2 billion people suffering from iron deficiency-induced
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This approach may have advantages over other health interventions such as providing foods
8:
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775:
Biofortification: Harnessing
Agricultural Technology to Improve the Health of the Poor
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was found to improve iron status among school-aged children and was found to improve
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528:"A Randomized Trial of Iron-Biofortified Pearl Millet in School Children in India"
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Plants can be bred by selective breeding. In this method, plant breeders search
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Penelope Nestel, Howarth E. Bouis, J. V. Meenakshi, & Wolfgang
Pfeiffer,
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Bonnie McClafferty & Yassir Islam, âFighting the Hidden Hungerâ, in
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Bonnie McClafferty & Yassir Islam, âFighting the Hidden Hungerâ, in
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when conventional methods fail to meet nutritional requirements.
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Some people, while not opposed to biofortification itself, are
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795:
19:
154:
150:
525:
146:
64:
801:
The WHO Vitamin and
Mineral Nutrition Information System
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791:
Directory of publications related to biofortification
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Carl Pray, Robert
Paarlberg, & Laurian Unnevehr,
566:
501:
Carl Pray, Robert
Paarlberg, & Laurian Unnevehr,
355:
207:, including biofortified ones such as golden rice.
63:in low and middle-income countries. In the case of
132:Deficiencies of various micronutrients, including
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1246:
656:âHarvestPlus aid for boosting nutrition levelsâ
266:
264:
821:
764:, vol. 32, issue 1, (February 2007), pp. 2-3.
111:and maize, and contains increased levels of
730:, vol. 32, issue 1, (February 2007), p. 11.
261:
16:Breeding crops for higher nutritional value
828:
814:
747:, vol. 32, issue 1, (February 2007), p. 3.
359:International Journal of Radiation Biology
346:, Blackwell Publishing, (2007), pp. 63-64.
756:Timothy Johns & Pablo B. Eyzaguirre,
739:Timothy Johns & Pablo B. Eyzaguirre,
722:Timothy Johns & Pablo B. Eyzaguirre,
584:
543:
298:
288:
685:Jocelyn C. Zuckerman, âMission Manâ, in
673:The Researcher, the Farmer and the Baker
425:Jocelyn C. Zuckerman, âMission Manâ, in
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18:
622:âBiofortification of Staple Food Cropsâ
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457:International Rice Research Institute:
438:International Rice Research Institute:
333:, Section 5, Retrieved on July 22, 2008
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205:critical of genetically modified foods
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628:, vol. 136, no. 4, (2006), p. 1066.
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250:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
23:The far bowl on the right contains
13:
778:, IFPRI and CIAT pamphlet, (2002).
46:. This can be done either through
14:
1266:
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713:, vol. 10, no. 3, (2007), p. 138.
516:, vol. 10, no. 3, (2007), p. 137.
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54:. Biofortification differs from
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128:Low and middle-income countries
48:conventional selective breeding
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61:deficiencies of micronutrients
1:
371:10.3109/09553002.2016.1135263
676:, Retrieved on July 22, 2008
662:, Retrieved on July 22, 2008
7:
903:WernickeâKorsakoff syndrome
344:Breeding Major Food Staples
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198:
10:
1271:
689:, (November 2007), p. 104.
586:10.1016/j.clnu.2022.02.014
429:, (November 2007), p. 197.
174:fortified after processing
97:genetically modified crops
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1005:
908:Wernicke's encephalopathy
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873:
843:
638:HarvestPlus China website
476:, (February 2008), p. 26.
445:November 2, 2012, at the
416:, (February 2008), p. 27.
643:August 20, 2008, at the
626:The Journal of Nutrition
486:âThe New Face of Hungerâ
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234:Micronutrient deficiency
42:crops to increase their
660:The Hindu Business Line
290:10.3389/fnut.2018.00012
122:
85:seed or germplasm banks
277:Frontiers in Nutrition
56:ordinary fortification
32:
1084:Electrolyte imbalance
952:Pyridoxine deficiency
926:Riboflavin deficiency
545:10.3945/jn.114.208009
492:, (April 17th, 2008).
329:July 5, 2008, at the
193:University of Warwick
187:High-income countries
145:staple crops such as
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1062:Vitamin K deficiency
1056:Vitamin E deficiency
1033:Vitamin D deficiency
1014:Vitamin A deficiency
913:Korsakoff's syndrome
117:vitamin A deficiency
459:Golden Rice at IRRI
191:Researchers at the
52:genetic engineering
1076:Mineral deficiency
875:Vitamin deficiency
705:2020-07-12 at the
508:2020-07-12 at the
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1191:Failure to thrive
1186:Delayed milestone
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1048:Harrison's groove
978:Folate deficiency
965:Biotin deficiency
440:About Golden Rice
236:("Hidden hunger")
44:nutritional value
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50:, or through
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1043:Osteomalacia
847:malnutrition
837:Malnutrition
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35:
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1234:Underweight
1224:Weight loss
865:Catabolysis
855:Kwashiorkor
796:HarvestPlus
762:Food Policy
745:Food Policy
728:Food Policy
357:approach".
229:Golden rice
178:supplements
103:Golden rice
79:Methodology
25:Golden Rice
1201:Idiopathic
1151:Molybdenum
995:deficiency
884:B vitamins
711:AgBioForum
514:AgBioForum
167:hemoglobin
1131:Manganese
1109:Potassium
1104:Phosphate
1099:Magnesium
991:Vitamin B
603:247116529
573:Clin Nutr
379:0955-3002
134:vitamin A
1249:Category
1229:Cachexia
1219:Anorexia
1168:Fluorine
1156:Selenium
1146:Chromium
1094:Chloride
939:Pellagra
898:Beriberi
860:Marasmus
703:Archived
641:Archived
595:35299084
554:25948782
506:Archived
443:Archived
395:10873152
387:26883304
327:Archived
309:29492405
223:See also
199:Problems
40:breeding
1212:General
1089:Calcium
1038:Rickets
687:Gourmet
427:Gourmet
300:5817065
108:Erwinia
1178:Growth
1141:Iodine
1136:Copper
1114:Sodium
1027:Scurvy
601:
593:
552:
532:J Nutr
393:
385:
377:
307:
297:
283:: 12.
140:, and
73:anemia
67:, the
1255:Crops
1006:Other
760:, in
743:, in
726:, in
709:, in
658:, in
624:, in
599:S2CID
512:, in
488:, in
391:S2CID
256:Notes
245:CGIAR
155:maize
151:wheat
1126:Zinc
1121:Iron
591:PMID
550:PMID
383:PMID
375:ISSN
305:PMID
153:and
147:rice
142:iron
138:zinc
123:Uses
65:iron
1060:K:
1054:E:
1031:D:
1025:C:
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