Food fortification to meet malnourishment problem/hidden hunger

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Dr. Sammyia Jannat
Department of Biotechnology, University of Kotli Azad Jammu and
Kashmir

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BIO FORTIFICATION

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The addition of an
ingredient to food
to increase
concentration of a
particular
elements.
WHAT IS FORTIFICATION
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5. INTRODUCTION
•Biofortification is the delivery of micronutrients
via micronutrient-dense crops
•It relies on the plant’s biosynthetic (vitamins) or
physiological (minerals) capacity to produce or
accumulate the desired nutrients.
•It offers a cost effective and sustainable
approach so that poor populations may benefit
from it.
•‘Health comes from the farm, not the
pharmacy’ – heart of the research on

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WHATISBIOFORTIFICATION
• Process for improving the nutritional
value of edible parts of the plants,
through mineral fertilization
conventional breeding, or transgenic
approaches.
• It can also be defined as the process
of increasing the bioavailable
concentrations of an element in
edible portions of crop plants through
the agronomic intervention or genetic
approaches.
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7. BACKGROUND
•Micronutrient malnutrition – hidden
hunger; came to attention in mid 1980s
•It is affecting more than half of the world
– major culprit of the world’s nutrition
problems
•In 2001, UN adopted some Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) – to eradicate
poverty and health issues by 2015

8. CONT.
•Fighting Micro-nutrient Malnutrition
(MNM) – integral component of three of
the eight MDGs:
- eradication of extreme poverty and
hunger
- reduction of child mortality
- improvement of maternal health
•Micronutrient supply - the main

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METHODS OF BIOFORTIFICATION
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• Conventional plant breeding is the
development or improvement of cultivars
using conservative tools for manipulating
plant genome within the natural genetic
boundaries of the species.
EXAMPLE;
Conventional breeding enlarged desired
traits of the wild cabbage plant (Brassica
oleracea) over hundreds of years, resulting
in dozens of today's agricultural
crops. Cabbage, kale, broccoli,
and cauliflower are all cultivars of this plant.

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METHODS OF BIOFORTIFICATION
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• Genetic engineering is the process in which
either a desired gene of an organism is
isolated, spliced out of the surrounding
genetic sequence, cloned using laboratory
techniques, and inserted into the host
organism which is being modified.
Genetic engineering is the latest weapon
in the armory against mineral deficiency
and uses advanced biotechnology
techniques to introduce genes directly into
breeding varieties.

12. DEFICIENT MICRONUTRIENTS
• In 2000, the World Health Report identified iron,
vitamin A, zinc and iodine deficiencies as the most
serious health constraints worldwide
• Additional micronutrients vitamins C, D, and various B
vitamins, as well as
the minerals selenium, calcium, and fluoride.
• The genetic potential for increasing the concentrations
of Fe, Zn, provitamin A, carotenoids, selenium, and
iodine several major staple food crops has been
reviewed

14. VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY
• Vitamin A denotes a group of C20 carotenoid derivatives -
(retinal,
retinol and its esters, and retinoic acid), - play an essential role
in
- vision, - immune response,
-epithelial cell growth, - bone growth,
-reproduction, - embryonic development,
-regulation of adult genes -maintenance of the surface
linings of the eyes
• An estimated 127 million preschool children are affected by
vitamin A deficiency, with 250,000–500,000 becoming blind
every year, half of which die within 12 months of losing their

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BIOFORTIFIED FOODS
Combating Vitamin A Deficiency
• Rice plants produce β-carotene (provitamin A) in
green tissues, but not in the seeds. To overcome
Vitamin A deficiency Golden rice was developed
in which two genes were introduced by genetic
engineering.
• These encode the enzymes phytoene synthase
(PSY) and phytoene desaturase (CRTI). Golden
Rice 1 contains the PSY gene from daffodil and
the CRTI gene from the bacterium Erwinia
uredovora.
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16. RICE : GOLDEN RICE AND
OTHER VARIETIES
• Rice has been a particular target of
transgenic approaches to
micronutrient
enhancement.
• Golden rice in beta carotene is a
very important example.
• Rice biofortifed with zinc was
released
to farmers in Bangladesh in 2013

17. ORANGE MAIZE
• Maize with high betacarotene
traits
has been shown to be as
efficacious
as supplements.
• Varieties of orange maize were
released in Zambia in 2012.

18. CASSAVA VARIETIES
• Cassava varieties with high
levels of
betacarotene are called yellow
or golden
cassava. These varieties were
released
in 2013 in Nigeria, where 100
million
Nigerians eat cassava daily.
• Currently, according to

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BIOFORTIFIED FOODS
Combating zinc defiency
• Synthetic wheats are recreated
hexaploid wheat developed by
crossing improved tetraploid T. durum
(also known as pasta wheat) or high
Zn containing wild tetraploid T.
dicoccon accessions with Aegilops
squarrosa, the goat grass that is D-
genome donor of wheat.
• Plants were then selected for
particular agronomic and disease
resistance traits, as well as high Zn 19

20. HIGH-ZINC WHEAT
VARIETY
• The first zinc wheat variety, in
Pakistan Zincol-2015, will be
released to farmers at the
onset of the wheat cropping
season during 2015-16, and
mass produced through our
partnership with public and
private seed multipliers and
farmers.

21. BIOFORTIFIED PEARL MILLET
• Biofortified pearl millet, with higher
iron and zinc content, is already
being grown widely in Maharashtra,
India.
• Studies showed that porridges or
breads made with this new pearl
millet provide
a significant amount of iron and zinc

22. IODINE DEFICIENCY
• Iodine - component of thyroid hormones. Its
deficiency disorders are the greatest cause of:
-Goiter and cretinism
-preventable brain damage in the foetus and infants
- retarded psychomotor development in young
children.
• Estimates show one billion individuals suffer from
goitre, with more than half of these living in Asia.
• Yogurt, bread

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BIOFORTIFIED FOODS
Combating vitamin C
• The potato has been also targeted for
enhancement of vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
by overexpressing strawberry GalUR
Transgenic Sweet Potato (Ipomea
batatas)
• Sweet potato is an alternative source of
bioenergy and natural antioxidants. It is
rich in various phytochemicals,
anthocyanins, vitamin C, carbohydrates,
potassium, and dietary fiber. Its nutrition
properties have been enhanced by
increasing the contents of carotene,
lutein, and total carotenoids by
overexpressing orange IbOr-Ins gene in
white fleshed sweet potato. 23

24. ORANGE FLESH SWEET POTATO
• Orange flesh sweet potato contains
high
levels of beta-carotene (a building
block
for vitamin A).
• Tests show that 75% of the
beta-carotene is retained in the
potato
even after boiling in preparation for a
meal.
• The white sweet potato contains no
Vit. A
• Since 2009, eight African countries

25. IRON DEFICIENCY
•Iron deficiency - affects cognitive development,
resistance to infection, work capacity,
productivity, and pregnancy.
•800,000 deaths are attributable to: iron
deficiency anaemia annually
•Mainly developing countries like African, South-
east Asian states are suffering

26. HIGH-IRON BEAN
VARIETIES
•High-iron bean varieties are
now being disseminated in
Rwanda, Uganda and the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
•Biofortified beans can improve
iron status in Rwandan women

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BIOFORTIFIED FOODS
Biofortified Carrot (Daucus
carota subsp. sativus)
• Carrots are one of the most popular vegetables
and contain high levels of beta-carotene and
vitamins and minerals; however, like many
vegetables, these are poor in calcium content.
Bioavailable calcium content in transgenic carrot
has been increased by expressing
the Arabidopsis H+/Ca2+ transporter [CAX1]
Biofortified Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)
• Lettuce is one of the most popular leafy vegetables
all around the world. Compared to spinach, the
iron content of lettuce is low. The lettuce has been
improved for iron content, yield, and growth rate by
expressing a soybean ferritin gene.
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BIOFORTIFIED FOODS
Biofortified Apple (Malus domestica)
• Apple has long been recognized as a great source
of antioxidants. Apple has been bioengineered
with a stilbene synthase gene from the grapevine
(Vitis vinifera L.) thereby leading to synthesis of
resveratrol in transgenic apple, thereby, expanding
the antioxidant capacity.
Biofortified Banana (Musa acuminata)
• The banana, a fourth most important food crop of
the developing countries, has been predominantly
targeted for beta-carotene. This has been
achieved by developing transgenic banana (Super
Banana) by expressing PSY gene (PSY2a) of
Asupina banana, which is naturally high in beta-
carotene
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BIOFORTIFIED FOODS
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Biofortified milk
• The diet of goats was
supplemented with soya-
based preparations with
Cu(II), Fe(II), Zn(II) and
Mn(II), produced by
biosorption, instead of
mineral salts

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FUTURE OF BIOFORTIFIED FOOD
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• Biofortified crops hold a very
bright future as these have the
potential to remove micronutrient
malnutrition among billions of
poor people, especially in the
developing countries.
• It is evident that biofortification
holds great promise for improving
the nutritive value of major crops

31. CONCLUSION
• Biofortified crops are need of today as mentioned earlier;
“health comes from the farm, not the pharmacy!”
Food-based approaches – designed to increase micronutrient
intake through the
diet – represent the most desirable and sustainable method of
preventing MNM. Ideally this should be achieved through food
diversification, but radical
improvements of the geopolitical situation in the near future
cannot be expected, and practicable and cost effective solutions
to the problem are needed.

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CONCLUSION
• Biofortification strategies based on crop
breeding, targeted genetic manipulation,
and/or the application of mineral fertilizers hold
great potential for addressing mineral
malnutrition in humans.
• The generation of biofortified food crops with
improved nutrient contents such as increases
in iron, zinc, Se, and provitamin A content are
providing sufficient levels of these and other
such micronutrients that are frequently lacking
in the diets of the developing and developed
world.
• Although a greater emphasis is being laid on
transgenic research, the success rate and
acceptability of breeding is much higher.
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