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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
Rural Outreach Program
ISSN: 1684-5358 EISSN: 1684-5358
Vol. 17, No. 2, 2017, pp. 11879-11892
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Bioline Code: nd17030
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2017, pp. 11879-11892
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CHAPTER 3 EFFICACY OF IRON-BIOFORTIFIED CROPS
Boy, E.; Haas, J.D.; Petry, N.; Cercamondi, C.I.; Gahutu, J.B.; Mehta, S.; Finkelstein, J.L. & Hurrell, R.F.
Abstract
Biofortification aims to increase the content of micronutrients in staple crops without
sacrificing agronomic yield, making the new varieties attractive to farmers. Food staples
that provide a major energy supply in low- and middle-income populations are the
primary focus. The low genetic variability of iron in the germplasm of most cereal grains
is a major obstacle on the path towards nutritional impact with these crops, which is
solvable only by turning to transgenic approaches. However, biofortified varieties of
common beans and pearl millet have been developed successfully and made available
with iron contents as high as 100 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg, respectively, two to five times
greater than the levels in the regular varieties. This brief review summarizes the research
to date on the bioavailability and efficacy of iron-biofortified crops, highlights their
potential and limitations, and discusses the way forward with multiple biofortified crop
approaches suitable for diverse cultures and socio-economic milieu. Like post-harvest
iron fortification, these biofortified combinations might provide enough iron to meet the
additional iron needs of many iron deficient women and children that are not covered at
present by their traditional diets.
Keywords
Biofortification; Iron; Beans; Pearl millet; Rice; Polyphenols; Phytic acid; Anemia; Efficacy; Nutrition-Agriculture linkages
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