High Iron Biofortified Rice Improves Blood Iron Levels
Breeding rice with higher levels of iron can have an important
impact on reducing micronutrient malnutrition, according to a
new study in the Journal of Nutrition. Dr. Robert Zeigler,
director general of International Rice Research Institute in the
Philippines commented "These results are especially important
for rice-eating regions of the world where more than 3 billion
of the world's poor and undernourished live." Iron deficiency
causes more than 60,000 maternal deaths during pregnancy and
childbirth. Recent statistics from the Micronutrients
Initiative of Canada and the United Nations Children's Fund
indicate that more than half of the developing world's children
between 6 months and 2 years of age are iron-deficient during
the critical period of their growth when brain development
occurs. "It is time to shift the agricultural research agenda,
and the rice research agenda in particular, away from quantity
and toward better-quality food. This may be the start of a
nutritional revolution - a very appropriate follow-on from the
Green Revolution and one that is desperately needed by millions
of the world's poor and undernourished." said Dr Zeigler. For
more information see J of Nutrition 135:2832-2830.
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Waist Circumference in Chinese Adults is Reliable Indicator of
Cardiovascular Risk Factors
There
has been growing interest in measuring abdominal obesity to
assess health of overweight and obese adults and their relative
risk of cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable
diseases. A study which involved 15, 540 Chinese adults aged
35-74 published last December provides useful information on
this. Waist circumference was found to be accurate predictor of
raised blood pressure, raised cholesterol, elevated
triglycerides and abnormal glucose levels. Indeed, waist
circumference appeared to be a more sensitive predictor of
elevated blood glucose than Body Mass Index (BMI). These
findings are in agreement with a number of studies on Caucasian
populations that have found waist circumference and waist-to-hip
ratio a clinically useful measure of individual cardiovascular
health. In view of growing evidence that many Asian ethnic
groups have tendency to central obesity (fat deposition around
the abdomen) and to have a higher proportion of body fat than
Caucasians of same BMI, this study provides useful insight into
alternative approaches to assessment of overweight and relative
risk. For more information, see Wildman et al (2005) Am J Clin
Nut ; 82:1195-202.
