Phytic Acid Concentration Influences Iron Bioavailability from Biofortified Beans in Rwandese Women with Low Iron Status

Petry, Nicolai; Egli, Ines; Gahutu, Jean Bosco; Tugirimana, Pierrot Lundimu; Boy, Erick; Hurrell, Richard F.

doi:10.3945/jn.114.192989

Cited by 82 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Resolving anaemia has proven to be difficult, despite interventions such as iron and folic acid supplementation of adult women, iron fortification of grain flours, multi-micronutrient fortification of commercial foods or supplementation via powders (UNICEF 2006). Biofortification (conventional cross-breeding and/or genetic modification for high iron traits) of crops such as beans, cassava, wheat and pearl millet is increasingly promoted as a food-based approach to addressing anemia through the diet (Petry et al 2014). However, even with all kinds of interventions combined, a halving of the global rate of iron deficiency anaemia by 2025 would require an ARR of 5.3 %.…”

Section: Global Problems and Global Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring multiple facets of malnutrition simultaneously: the missing link in setting nutrition targets and policymaking

2015

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Attention to nutrition continues to grow. The recent surge in interest has included widening agreement on two major issues: first, nutrition goals cannot be achieved through targeted actions alone; nutrition-sensitive interventions are needed as well. Second, the multiple actions required to address all forms of malnutrition through the lifecycle cannot be proxied by a single target or metric. Although the Millennium Development Goals included one concrete measure of nutrition (children underweight), the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals will include multiple measures that better inform a diversity of policy and programming actions. This suggests a need for improved understanding of how multiple forms of malnutrition are linked, how public investments may affect one form of malnutrition but possibly not others, and how best to measure progress on multiple nutrition fronts, including through nutrition-sensitive actions, such as investments in agriculture. This paper proposes a composite index that highlights the state of nutrition across six separate nutrition goals endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2012, allowing for ranking (comparison among countries) and monitoring of change (within countries) over time. Establishing an index that captures gains or losses in nutrition across all six goals simultaneously highlights the complexity of nutrition problems and required solutions. Such an index can be used to track progress towards goals set for 2025, but also support dialogue on the individual index components and how investments should be prioritized for maximum impact.

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Section: Global Problems and Global Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring multiple facets of malnutrition simultaneously: the missing link in setting nutrition targets and policymaking

2015

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“…Based on human studies, the original estimate of 5 percent bioavailability has been increased to 7 percent. A bioavailability study of young women found that the participants absorbed significantly greater amounts of iron from biofortified beans compared to the conventional beans [13].…”

Section: Setting Iron Target Levels For Bean Breeders and Establishinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron beans in Rwanda: Crop development and delivery experience

Mulambu¹

2017

AJFAND

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HarvestPlus and its partners have successfully developed and delivered iron bean varieties to more than one million farming households in Rwanda, DRC, and Uganda to help combat the adverse health effects of iron deficiency widespread in these countries. Focusing primarily on Rwanda, this chapter summarizes the country, nutritional and consumer background, crop development, release, and delivery of iron bean varieties and synthesizes lessons learned and future challenges.

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“…At normal PA concentrations, fractional iron absorption from the biofortified beans (7.1%) was lower than for the control beans (9.2%), and the total amount of iron absorbed from the iron-biofortified beans was only slightly higher (19%) compared to the control beans. However, dephytinization increased fractional iron absorption and, after 95% dephytinization, iron absorption from both beans increased to about 13% and the total amount of iron absorbed from the biofortified bean was 51% higher than from control beans.A potential explanation for the results from Petry et al [4] is that some of the additional iron bred into the beans is stored as a non-bioavailable form of iron bound to PA. This is consistent with findings from Hoppler et al in their study examining iron speciation in beans [7].…”

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“…The biofortified beans were provided as part of a composite meal using a multiple meal design, which has been shown to better reflect real-life iron bioavailability [2]. In the multiple meal studies, iron bioavailability from biofortified beans consumed with potatoes or rice was modest, ranging from 3.8% to 7.3% [3,4,5]. However, in these studies, the total amount of iron absorbed from biofortified beans in these studies per woman per day ranged from 234 to 431 µg, and represented up to 30% of the physiologic requirement for non-pregnant non-lactating women of reproductive age [6].…”

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confidence: 99%

Efficacy of iron-biofortified crops

Boy¹,

Haas²,

Petry³

et al. 2017

AJFAND

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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. BIOFORTIFICATION OF STAPLE CROPS WITH IRONThe staple crops which have shown the most potential to increase dietary iron intake through traditional or selective plant breeding are common beans, pearl millet, cowpea, chickpea, pigeon pea, and lentils. Plant breeders have successfully developed varieties of these common staples with iron content two to five times higher than typical commercial varieties. Even considering the low iron bioavailability from these staples due to their high phytic acid (PA) content, it has been estimated that the higher iron content in these biofortified pulses and pearl millet can provide an additional 20 to 30% of the estimated average iron requirement for non-pregnant, non-lactating women of reproductive age, and children three to six years of age who consume these as staples [1]. Careful testing of these varieties is underway so that they can ultimately be introduced into food systems with claims of nutritional superiority and agronomic competitiveness.Before new biofortified varieties are released to farmers, their ability to improve iron status in at-risk populations must be demonstrated initially through well-designed and implemented, randomized controlled efficacy trials, and ideally also under market conditions via effectiveness studies. Until now, only three iron-biofortified staple foods, rice (in the Philippines), beans (in Rwanda), and pearl millet (in India), have been tested for nutritional efficacy, and two of these (biofortified beans and pearl millet) have been tested for iron bioavailability. Given the relatively short time that biofortification has been pursued as an intervention strategy, no effectiveness trials have yet been completed for iron-biofortified crops. Bioavailability of Iron-biofortified Staple Foods: Evidence ...

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Phytic Acid Concentration Influences Iron Bioavailability from Biofortified Beans in Rwandese Women with Low Iron Status

Cited by 82 publications

References 48 publications

Measuring multiple facets of malnutrition simultaneously: the missing link in setting nutrition targets and policymaking

Measuring multiple facets of malnutrition simultaneously: the missing link in setting nutrition targets and policymaking

Iron beans in Rwanda: Crop development and delivery experience

Efficacy of iron-biofortified crops

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