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"A-Maize" Western Africa With Anemia-Abatement StrategyBy Luis Pons April 18, 2003It's not necessarily how much food you
eat, but how nutritious it is, that counts. That's the foundation of a strategy for halting iron deficiency anemia in
western Africa developed by an Agricultural
Research Service scientist and a Nigeria-based international agriculture
agency. Iron deficiency anemia can retard mental development and impair physical
growth in children, and lower disease resistance, complicate pregnancies and
reduce capacity for manual labor in adults. More than half of Nigeria's children and women of childbearing age suffer
from this anemia, the major cause of which is lack of iron in the diet that is
available for absorption. Human physiologist Raymond Glahn of ARS'
U.S. Plant, Soil and
Nutrition Laboratory in Ithaca, N.Y., and researchers at the International
Institute of Tropical Technology (IITA) headquartered in Ibadan, Nigeria,
believe a plant-enhancing process called "biofortification" can help
turn this tide of nutrient shortfall. Biofortification utilizes traditional breeding techniques to make iron in
staple food crops more absorption-available. This process will increase the
nutritional quality--and popularity--of maize varieties already bred, grown and
consumed in western Africa. Glahn and ITTA scientists have begun research that will be needed if this
strategy is to succeed. They are identifying the iron-rich strains of maize
currently being grown in Nigeria and finding which are most adaptable to all of
its land and climate zones. Maize is a staple of the western African diet. ITTA scientists chose 69 varieties known for high grain yield and disease
resistance, and they grew them in three regions of Nigeria that have different
climates and elevations. After harvest, the maize was sent to Ithaca, where
Glahn tested it using an "artificial gut" he invented. This in vitro
technique makes it possible to readily assess the bioavailability of iron in
grains and other foodstuffs. More information about this research can be found in the
April 2003 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine. ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. U.S. Department of Agriculture |