Agronomic problems related to provitamin A carotenoid-rich plants

Auteur(s) :
Welch RM.
Date :
Nov, 1997
Source(s) :
European journal of clinical nutrition. #51:4 Suppl pS34-38
Adresse :
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-2901, USA.

Sommaire de l'article

OBJECTIVES: Review how agricultural systems might be changed to increase the vitamin A density of diets in developing countries to provide sustainable solutions to vitamin A deficiency globally.

DESIGN: Develop agricultural systems that not only assure calorie adequacy for people, but also address vitamin A density in diets.

SETTINGS: Agricultural systems could be modified in some developing nations in ways that would provide adequate dietary amounts of provitamin A carotenoids from plant food sources.

SUBJECTS: Infants and children of low-income families are most at risk of developing vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.

INTERVENTIONS: Cropping systems could be modified to include more vegetable and fruit crops containing higher bioavailable amounts of provitamin A carotenoids in some countries. Additionally, cultural practices could be modified through education, agricultural extension and/or social marketing to insure that the bioavailable provitamin A carotenoid levels in food crops are optimized. Staple food crops could be improved as sources of provitamin A carotenoids by traditional plant breeding and/or by genetic engineering efforts.

RESULTS: Currently, many techniques are available to increase the vitamin A content of diets through sustainable food-based approaches. Agricultural approaches should be examined closely to finding sustainable food-based system solutions to vitamin A deficiency globally.

CONCLUSIONS: The world community should strive to find food-based system approaches to eliminating vitamin A deficiency. Modifying agricultural systems in ways that will not only maximizing food production, but also insure nutritional adequacy of vitamin A is a desirable goal for many developing countries.

Source : Pubmed
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