Letters to the Editor

Abstract

Leaf concentrate. Undernutrition. UN food aid policies The greatest untapped food resource on earth? Madam You recently published a letter from John Waterlow FRS on leaf concentrate, 'whose benefits for undernourished children-and adults-are potentially immense' (1). Leaf concentrate is rightly known as 'the greatest untapped food resource on earth'. With many colleagues throughout the world, I attest to its efficacy: I have seen for myself its impact particularly on child health in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The purpose of this letter is to ask why the United Nations agencies whose duty is to treat and prevent undernutrition, continue to ignore leaf concentrate. Here is the testimony of the nutritionist Sister Luci Morren, who works with impoverished communities in Nicaragua. The French charity L'Association Pour La Promotion des Extraits Foliaires en Nutrition (APEF), with whom I work, has many other testimonials, together with results from professionally supervised small field trials. Sister Luci reports that with leaf concentrate, 'appetite improves, people are less tired, more energetic, irondeficiency anaemia is resolved, skin problems subside, sometimes vision improves, coughs clear up, as do headaches and insomnia. Respiratory infections become less severe and less frequent, as do other ailments. Mothers are less fatigued in pregnancy, give birth to bigger, heavier babies, and recover more quickly after their confinement. Those who breastfeed have more milk and so are able adequately to feed until weaning, while their children gain weight normally'. My own association with leaf concentrate goes back half a century. As an engineer, in 1958 I joined the team formed by Norman Pirie FRS in the UK at the Rothamsted agriculture research centre, and for the next 14 years developed the process for extracting leaf concentrate (then known as leaf protein) as a cheap, available and effective food supplement (2). Ever since then, I have been involved in efforts to introduce and popularise leaf concentrate. For the last 15 years APEF has been distributing leaf concentrate in twenty countries within four continents. Up to now, more than 60 million 10-gram daily portions of concentrate have been extracted from alfalfa, also known as lucerne (Medicago sativa). Many other leaves that are rich in protein, carotenoids, iron, and many other micronutrients and bioactive compounds, are also excellent bases for concentrate. Just over three years ago, at a meeting in Geneva, the head of the department of Child and Adolescent

Letters to the Editor

“…In support of the letters you have published from Glyn Davys and Professor John Waterlow ( 1 , 2 ) , I testify as follows. I am a medical doctor, and a member of the charity Enfants du Monde, with whom I work regularly in the province of Yatenga in Burkina Faso.…”

Letters to the Editor

“…I have been in charge of the clinic at Djilas in Senegal for several years. I know the benefits of leaf concentrate ( 1 ) extracted from lucerne.…”