BIOFORTIFICATION - could help end hunger

[PTB]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...e869e?section=

BRIAN YARVIN VIA GETTY IMAGES

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - Four scientists who specialized in sweet potatoes were named the winners of this year’s World Food Prize on Tuesday for their work to make foods more nutritious.
Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department.
Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, called their work “a breakthrough achievement in developing and implementing biofortification.”
He defined biofortification as “the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing hidden hunger and improving health for millions and millions of people.”
The honorees’ work has focused on the orange-fleshed sweet potato, an important source of vitamin A, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency, especially there and in Asia, is a cause of blindness and premature death, according to the International Potato Center, an agriculture research center based in Lima, Peru.

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“The impact of the work of all four winners will be felt around the globe but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Gayle Smith, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The prize is awarded annually by the World Food Prize Foundation for food and agriculture innovation. The scientists will share the $250,000 prize equally and it will be awarded at a ceremony during World Food Prize week in Des Moines, Iowa, in October, when the prize will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Past recipients include John Kufuour, a former president of Ghana; former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; and Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh.
(Reporting by Isma’il Kushkush; Editing by John Walcott and Bill Trott)

BRIAN YARVIN VIA GETTY IMAGES

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - Four scientists who specialized in sweet potatoes were named the winners of this year’s World Food Prize on Tuesday for their work to make foods more nutritious.
Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department.
Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, called their work “a breakthrough achievement in developing and implementing biofortification.”
He defined biofortification as “the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing hidden hunger and improving health for millions and millions of people.”
The honorees’ work has focused on the orange-fleshed sweet potato, an important source of vitamin A, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency, especially there and in Asia, is a cause of blindness and premature death, according to the International Potato Center, an agriculture research center based in Lima, Peru.

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• 
  
• 
  5252 Retweets
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  4343 likes“The impact of the work of all four winners will be felt around the globe but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Gayle Smith, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The prize is awarded annually by the World Food Prize Foundation for food and agriculture innovation. The scientists will share the $250,000 prize equally and it will be awarded at a ceremony during World Food Prize week in Des Moines, Iowa, in October, when the prize will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Past recipients include John Kufuour, a former president of Ghana; former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; and Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh.
(Reporting by Isma’il Kushkush; Editing by John Walcott and Bill Trott)

[Curt James]

That's awesome news!

[Curt James]

Some 870 million suffer from hunger, but almost a third of the world’s population still do not get enough essential nutrients and suffer from hidden hunger, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Hidden hunger is more prevalent in poorer countries in Asia and Africa, but it also exists in wealthy countries like America.

“Many Americans can get enough calories, but not enough nutrients,” said Mary Lee Chin, a registered dietician.

Nutrition is a complex issue, Chin says, and there are many factors that can contribute to malnutrition. In rich countries like America, staple foods that are consumed regularly are fortified with vitamins and micronutrients in order to provide Americans with enough nutrition. Some common examples include fortifying milk and orange juice with vitamin D and bread with folate, a very important nutrient for fetal neurological development. But because of poor food choices or lifestyle habits, many Americans still do not get enough calcium, vitamin D and potassium, according to Chin.

In poor countries, many people don’t have access to such large varieties of food and instead rely on one or two staples. In many parts of Asia, the staple is rice; in African countries, it’s tubers like cassava or fruit like cooking bananas. These staple foods fill people’s bellies, but they often do not have enough essential vitamins and micronutrients. Two billion people in the world are anemic because they do not get enough iron, according to Chin, and children under the age of five who don’t have enough vitamin A and live in places that are susceptible to diseases are ten times more likely to die from diarrhea or pneumonia.

From and more @ https://www.geneticliteracyproject.o...ritious-crops/