The Current High Prevalence of Dietary Zinc Inadequacy among Children and Women in Rural Bangladesh Could Be Substantially Ameliorated by Zinc Biofortification of Rice

Abstract

Rural Bangladeshi populations have a high risk of zinc deficiency due to their consumption of a predominantly rice-based diet with few animal-source foods. Breeding rice for higher zinc content would offer a sustainable approach to increase the population's zinc intakes. The objectives of the study were to quantify usual rice and zinc intakes in young children and their adult female primary caregivers and to simulate the potential impact of zinc-biofortified rice on their zinc intakes. We measured dietary intake in a representative sample of 480 children (ages 24-48 mo) and their female caregivers residing in 2 rural districts of northern Bangladesh. Dietary intakes were estimated by 12-h weighed records and 12-h recall in homes on 2 nonconsecutive days. Serum zinc concentrations were determined in a subsample of children. The median (25th, 75th percentile) rice intakes of children and female caregivers were 134 (99, 172) and 420 (365, 476) g raw weight/d, respectively. The median zinc intakes were 2.5 (2.1, 2.9) and 5.4 (4.8, 6.1) mg/d in children and women, respectively. Twenty-four percent of children had low serum zinc concentrations ( < 9.9 micromol/L) after adjusting for elevated acute phase proteins. Rice was the main source of zinc intake, providing 49 and 69% of dietary zinc to children and women, respectively. The prevalence of inadequate zinc intakes was high in both the children (22%) and women (73-100%). Simulated increases in rice zinc content to levels currently achievable through selective breeding decreased the estimated prevalence of inadequacy to 9% in children and 20-85% in women, depending on the assumptions used to estimate absorption. Rural Bangladeshi children and women have inadequate intakes of zinc. Zinc biofortification of rice has the potential to markedly improve the zinc adequacy of their diets.

Dietary phytate intake inhibits the bioavailability of iron and calcium in the diets of pregnant women in rural Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

“…The wide difference in daily phytate intake between these two studies was probably due to the variations in energy intake among the studied rural women. In our study, we found that the average phytate intake of the rural pregnant women was 695 mg; this finding is in agreement with Arsenault et al's reported phytate intake of rural women in Bangladesh [40]. The average daily phytate intake among rural pregnant women in our study was lower than that in Ethiopia [43] and Guatemala [19], while it was reported that the women of childbearing age in Sweden [44], Italy [24] and Finland [24] consumed about 180 mg, 293 mg, and 370 mg of phytate per day, respectively.…”

“…The mean phytate to zinc molar ratio of the rural pregnant women in our study was 11.2, which is soundly supported by findings from Arsenault et al who studied women in rural Bangladesh [40]. Besides this, the 2011-12 Bangladesh National Micronutrient Status Survey [14] has reported a mean phytate to zinc molar ratio of 12.0 among rural Non Pregnant Non Lactating (NPNL) women in Bangladesh.…”

“…A few prior studies [39,40] in Bangladesh have documented the daily phytate intake of women in their typical consumed diet. However, there is no study that reports phytate intake and its effect on the bioavailability of major micronutrients from the typical diet of pregnant women in Bangladesh.…”

“…For example, Bhargava et al [39] reported a very high mean daily phytate intake (around 2300 mg), whereas Arsenault et al [40], in another study, reported phytate intake of approximately 650 mg. The wide difference in daily phytate intake between these two studies was probably due to the variations in energy intake among the studied rural women.…”

Nutritionally Enhanced Staple Food Crops

“…An alternative (or complement) to the above approaches is to use plant breeding to naturally fortify commonly consumed staple crops with micronutrients, a process known as genetic biofortification (Bouis 2003). Biofortification has the potential to help alleviate the suffering, death, disability, and failure to achieve full human potential that result from micronutrient deficiency-related diseases (Haas et al 2005;Campos-Bowers and Wittenmyer 2007;Rosado et al 2009;Arsenault et al 2010;Bouis and Islam 2011). In summary, therefore, biofortification refers to the development of micronutrient-dense staple crops using traditional breeding practices or biotechnology (Bouis 2003).…”