Overview

One of the biggest challenges that confront economic development in today's world is malnourishment. According to a report, over 2 billion people are depleted of essential micro nutrients throughout the world due to consumption of starchy staples (Initiative M, 2009). Agricultural systems of the world fall short in meeting the complete nutritional needs and providing balanced diets to a majority of the population, particularly in developing countries. A larger proportion of the population rely on staple plant based diets that deny both quantity and quality food. Limited access to foods of animal origin, lack of variety and economic status in developing countries lead to high rates of prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies. Vitamin A, iron and iodine deficiency are the three commonly prevalent deficiencies. Although their daily requirement is less, they have a huge impact on human health and thus impose a significant stress over public health and economy. Other deficiencies of increasing concern include that of selenium, boron, tocopherol, ascorbate, cobalamin, folate and calcium. Iron deficiency, in particular is a global phenomenon and is equally prevalent in developed countries as in developing countries and is considered to be highest contributor to global disease burden (World Health Organization- WHO, 2002). The form of iron in frequently consumed foods is poorly bioavailable, resulting in higher prevalence of iron deficiency, particularly in women and children (Sandstead, 2000). The very recent worldwide database on prevalence of anemia as published by De Benoist et al., 2008 for the years of 1993 to 2005 shows the following statistics. Globally 1.62 billion people are affected by anemia (i.e., 24.80% of the population). 47.40% of pre-school age children, 25.40% of school age children, 41.80% of pregnant women, 30.20% of non-pregnant women, 12.70% of men and 23.9% of the elderly are anemic.

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