Food-based approaches for alleviating micronutrient malnutrition: An overview

Abstract

This chapter reviews current knowledge and experience with using food-based approaches in reducing vitamin A and iron deficiencies. It reviews recently published literature, highlights some lessons learned, and identifies knowledge gaps and research priorities. The main strategies reviewed are food-based interventions that aim at: (1) increasing the production, availability, and access to vitamin A and iron-rich foods through the promotion of home production and (2) plant breeding strategies that have the potential to increase the content of vitamin A and iron in diet as well as their bioavailability. The review highlights the fact that significant progress has been achieved in the past few decades in the design and implementation of food-based approaches. Evaluations however remain weak, and without rigorous, carefully conducted evaluations the real potential of food-based approaches in addressing micronutrient malnutrition cannot be fully understood. Plant breeding strategies, although they are at a much earlier stage of development, hold great promise because of their enormous potential to improve the dietary quality of populations relying mainly on cereal staples. Studies on human bioavailability are the next crucial step to help understand the potential contribution of plant breeding towards alleviating micronutrient malnutrition. Our review suggests that food-based interventions could be an essential part of the long-term global strategy for the fight against micronutrient malnutrition, but their real potential is still to be explored. © 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.