Bio-fortification: A New Ray of Hope to Increase Nutrition in Foods

There are many nations across this world whose citizens suffer from hidden hunger which is basically micronutrients malnutrition. It can produce devastating health issues like blindness, stunting, disease and even death. The critical micronutrients identified by WHO are zinc, iron and vitamin A.

To reduce hidden hunger state, scientists moved to a new approach of producing crops i.e. Bio-fortification. It is a new strategy and a process where crops breeding take place in a way to naturally increase nutrients. It emphasizes on foods which poor people eat and they can also afford like rice. Therefore, bio-fortified foods are more easily integrated into the livelihoods and diets of the poor.

Nutrition scientists are also working closely with plant breeders to decide just how much of a nutrient must you breed into a crop to improve human nutrition. An example of bio-fortified food is from Africa where color change is detected in such foods.  In Africa, people prefer to eat traditional white sweet potato while the new high Pro-vitamin-A varieties are orange in color.

By: Bhavna Sharma

Content: www.biokemi.org