Biofortification
Encyclopedia
Biofortification is a method of breeding
crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding
, or through genetic engineering
. Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification 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 improvement on ordinary fortification when it comes to providing nutrients for the rural poor, who rarely have access to commercially fortified foods. As such, biofortification is seen as an upcoming strategy for dealing with deficiencies of micronutrients in the developing world.
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 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.
This method is prevalent at present, as it is quicker, cheaper, and less controversial than genetically engineering crops. For example, HarvestPlus, a major NGO
in the development of biofortified crops primarily use conventional breeding techniques, and have not yet spent more than 15% of their research budget on genetically modified crops when conventional methods fail to meet nutritional requirements.
is an example of a GM crop developed for its nutritional value. Golden rice contains genes from the soil bacterium Erwinia
and either maize or daffodil plants, and contains increased levels of beta-carotene
which can be converted by the body into vitamin A. This can help alleviate symptoms of vitamin A deficiency
.
, zinc
, and iron
are common in the developing world 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 staple crops such as rice
, wheat
and maize
, 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 – in one trial in Mozambique, eating sweet potato
es biofortified with beta-carotene reduced the incidence of vitamin A deficiency in children by 24%.
This approach may have advantages over other health interventions such as providing foods fortified after processing, or providing supplements
. 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 – where seeds can be distributed, the “implementation costs [of growing biofortified foods] are nil or negligible”, as opposed to supplementation which is comparatively expensive and requires continued financing over time, which may be jeopardized by fluctuating political interest.
Research on this approach is being undertaken internationally, with major efforts ongoing in Brazil, China and India.
uptake in high-income countries. An example of this trend would be research into grain with higher levels of selenium
, which, amongst other benefits, helps prevent prostate cancer
. Researchers at the University of Warwick
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.
, including biofortified ones such as golden rice.
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 – this for example is problematic for many in Africa, where 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.
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 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 “will consume biofortified versions of food staples even if the color of the food has been changed…if they are educated as to the benefit”. 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.
Some have criticized biofortification programs because they may encourage “further simplification of human diets and food systems”, because “[biofortification is] a strategy that aims to concentrate more nutrients in few staple foods [which] may contribute to further simplifying diets already overly dependant on a few carbohydrate staples.” 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 the developing world. Advocates of biofortification accept this as a long term strategy, but warn that substantially increasing diet diversity will take “many decades and untold billions of dollars”, and that biofortification could be an effective strategy to help reduce micronutrient malnutrition.
Plant breeding
Plant breeding is the art and science of changing the genetics of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. Plant breeding can be accomplished through many different techniques ranging from simply selecting plants with desirable characteristics for propagation, to more complex molecular...
crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding
Artificial selection
Artificial selection describes intentional breeding for certain traits, or combination of traits. The term was utilized by Charles Darwin in contrast to natural selection, in which the differential reproduction of organisms with certain traits is attributed to improved survival or reproductive...
, or through genetic engineering
Genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms . Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques...
. Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification 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 improvement on ordinary fortification when it comes to providing nutrients for the rural poor, who rarely have access to commercially fortified foods. As such, biofortification is seen as an upcoming strategy for dealing with deficiencies of micronutrients in the developing world.
Selective breeding
Using this method, plant breeders search seed or germplasm banksSeedbank
A seedbank stores seeds as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of gene bank. The seeds stored may be food crops, or those of rare species to protect biodiversity. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied...
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 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.
This method is prevalent at present, as it is quicker, cheaper, and less controversial than genetically engineering crops. For example, HarvestPlus, a major NGO
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
in the development of biofortified crops primarily use conventional breeding techniques, and have not yet spent more than 15% of their research budget on genetically modified crops when conventional methods fail to meet nutritional requirements.
Genetic modification
Golden riceGolden rice
Golden rice is a variety of Oryza sativa rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor of pro-vitamin A in the edible parts of rice...
is an example of a GM crop developed for its nutritional value. Golden rice contains genes from the soil bacterium Erwinia
Erwinia
Erwinia is a genus of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria containing mostly plant pathogenic species which was named for the first phytobacteriologist, Erwin Smith. It is a gram negative bacterium related to E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella and Yersinia. It is primarily a rod-shaped bacteria. A well-known...
and either maize or daffodil plants, and contains increased levels of beta-carotene
Beta-carotene
β-Carotene is a strongly-coloured red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits. It is an organic compound and chemically is classified as a hydrocarbon and specifically as a terpenoid , reflecting its derivation from isoprene units...
which can be converted by the body into vitamin A. This can help alleviate symptoms of vitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency is a lack of vitamin A in humans. It is common in developing countries but rarely seen in developed countries. Night blindness is one of the first signs of vitamin A deficiency. Xerophthalmia and complete blindness can also occur since Vitamin A has a major role in...
.
Developing world
Deficiencies of various micronutrients, including vitamin AVitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency is a lack of vitamin A in humans. It is common in developing countries but rarely seen in developed countries. Night blindness is one of the first signs of vitamin A deficiency. Xerophthalmia and complete blindness can also occur since Vitamin A has a major role in...
, zinc
Zinc deficiency
Zinc deficiency is insufficient zinc to meet the needs of biological organisms. It can occur in both plants and animals. Zinc deficient soil is soil in which there is insufficient zinc to allow plants to grow normally.-Description:...
, and iron
Iron deficiency (medicine)
Iron deficiency is one of the most common of the nutritional deficiencies. Iron is present in all cells in the human body, and has several vital functions...
are common in the developing world 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 staple crops such as rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, 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 – in one trial in Mozambique, eating sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
es biofortified with beta-carotene reduced the incidence of vitamin A deficiency in children by 24%.
This approach may have advantages over other health interventions such as providing foods fortified after processing, or providing supplements
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
. 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 – where seeds can be distributed, the “implementation costs [of growing biofortified foods] are nil or negligible”, as opposed to supplementation which is comparatively expensive and requires continued financing over time, which may be jeopardized by fluctuating political interest.
Research on this approach is being undertaken internationally, with major efforts ongoing in Brazil, China and India.
Developed world
Biofortified foods may also be useful for increasing micronutrientMicronutrient
Micronutrients are nutrients required by humans and other living things throughout life in small quantities to orchestrate a whole range of physiological functions, but which the organism itself cannot produce. For people, they include dietary trace minerals in amounts generally less than 100...
uptake in high-income countries. An example of this trend would be research into grain with higher levels of selenium
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
, which, amongst other benefits, helps prevent prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
. Researchers at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
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.
Problems
Some people, while not opposed to biofortification itself, are critical of genetically modified foodsGenetically modified food controversies
The genetically modified foods controversy is a dispute over the relative advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified food crops and other uses of genetically-modified organisms in food production. The dispute involves biotechnology companies, governmental regulators, non-governmental...
, including biofortified ones such as golden rice.
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 – this for example is problematic for many in Africa, where 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.
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 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 “will consume biofortified versions of food staples even if the color of the food has been changed…if they are educated as to the benefit”. 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.
Some have criticized biofortification programs because they may encourage “further simplification of human diets and food systems”, because “[biofortification is] a strategy that aims to concentrate more nutrients in few staple foods [which] may contribute to further simplifying diets already overly dependant on a few carbohydrate staples.” 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 the developing world. Advocates of biofortification accept this as a long term strategy, but warn that substantially increasing diet diversity will take “many decades and untold billions of dollars”, and that biofortification could be an effective strategy to help reduce micronutrient malnutrition.
See also
- Golden riceGolden riceGolden rice is a variety of Oryza sativa rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor of pro-vitamin A in the edible parts of rice...
- Micronutrient deficiency
- MalnutritionMalnutritionMalnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
- CGIARConsultative Group on International Agricultural ResearchThe CGIAR is a strategic alliance that unites organizations involved in agricultural research for sustainable development with the donors that fund such work. These donors include governments of developing and industrialized countries, foundations and international and regional organizations...
- Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationBill & Melinda Gates FoundationThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...