Addressing micronutrient malnutrition to achieve nutrition security.

Abstract

The poor quality of the habitual diet and the lack of dietary diversity in much of the developing world contribute to deficiencies of micronutrients. Micronutrient malnutrition is a global problem much bigger than hunger and imposes enormous costs on societies in terms of ill health, lives lost, reduced economic productivity and poor quality of life. Addressing the global challenge of micronutrient malnutrition requires the need for many strategies - both short- and intermediate-term and long-term sustainable approaches. In addition to the conventional approaches of micronutrient supplementation and fortification, promoting sustainable food-based approaches to enable adequate intakes of micronutrients by much of the population includes dietary diversification strategies and agriculture-based approaches. Dietary diversification is possible by the promotion of homestead food production, which includes home gardening, small livestock rearing and fishing as well as the processing and preservation of food. Agriculture and agricultural biotechnology offer the opportunity of increasing crop yields and have the potential to improve the micronutrient content of staple foods and cereal crops, thus contributing to better nutrition of populations and thereby helping to achieve nutrition security. By ensuring food and nutrition security and by reducing the widespread problem of micronutrient malnutrition we may hope to achieve the targets set for the Millennium Development Goals.

The suitability of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) for alleviating human micronutrient dietary deficiencies: A review

“…Micronutrient deficiency also called human dietary deficiency is among the most predominant and dangerous health conditions of the 21st century and it is among the foundation cause of the many chronic diseases and health conditions plaguing the earth these days (Shetty, 2011). While many individual still consider that these deficiencies only occur in underdeveloped nations, actually micronutrient deficiency is a worldwide pandemic, in each country of the planet.…”

“…Deficiency in micronutrients promotes morbidity and mortality from infectious illnesses such as malaria, diarrhea, measles, and pneumonia, and these conditions are one of the 10 primary causes of global health burdens (WHO, 2001). The people most susceptible to micronutrient deficiencies are expectant women, lactating mothers and their kids as a result of their comparatively greater physiological requirement for minerals and vitamins and are therefore, more exposed to the detrimental consequences of these deficiencies (Berti et al, 2011;Regan et al, 2015;Shetty, 2011). According to Howart (2000), in developing nations, above three billion individuals are deficient in iron and this is more severe in children and women due to the fact that they have more physiological requirement for iron.…”

“…Time-tested approaches globally adopted to tackle micronutrient malnutrition have up till now focused on supplementation, fortification, and dietary modification (food-based approaches) of commonly consumed foods with micronutrients (Gibson, 2011;Shetty, 2011;Thompson & Amoroso, 2011). Considerably, efforts to tackle the three main micronutrient deficiencies of general health concern, that is, iron, iodine, and vitamin A deficiencies, have centered on supplementation.…”

Health and hunger: nutrient response to income depending on caloric availability in Nepal

“…The World Bank (WB) lists calorie deficiency as a failure to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living (Haughton and Khandker, ). However, research indicates that micronutrient malnutrition is a far greater problem than calorie deficiency, as access to staple foods has greatly increased for the poor in developing countries (Shetty, ). This reliance on staple foods and the resulting lack of dietary diversity results in widespread micronutrient deficiencies especially in vitamin A, iron, and zinc (Mengistu et al., ; Wang et al., ).…”

The relationship between micronutrient intake and labour productivity: Evidence from rice-farming households in Thailand

“…Micronutrient deficiencies are common in populations that consume poor diets lacking in diversity. Such diets are relatively high in staples, mainly cereal or root crops, but low in micronutrient-rich foods such as meat and animal products, fruits and vegetables (Shetty, 2011, p. 29). Inadequate intake contributes to the global burden of disease through increased rates of illness and death from infectious diseases and to disability, and these may result in lower labour productivity (Gayer and Smith, 2015; Weinberger, 2004).…”