July 19, 2005

The Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with additional funding from other charitable foundations and research institutions has recently announced that it is awarding over 30 million USD to fund research projects which will use modern biotechnology to grow more nutritious crops to combat the widespread global health problem of malnutrition. The Initiative comments that 'a promising long term solution to this (malnutrition) problem is to genetically modify crops that grow well in harsh climates so that they contain high levels of essential nutrients'. The grant awards include over 11 million dollars to improve the pro-vitamin A. vitamin E, iron and zinc nutrient value of rice, the most important staple crop in the world.

These awards will certainly accelerate the progress of bioforitifcation research, but it is worth noting that research scientists in Asia have already made great progress in harnessing biotechnology to improve the nutritional quality of staple crops in the region. The latest issue of the Asian Food Information Centre's newsletter, Food Facts Asia summarises some of the most promising projects already well underway.

For example, biotechnology methods are being employed to improve the nutritional value of mustard oil, building on work which has already resulted in increased levels of pro-vitamin A in canola crops and the oil extracted from this crop. One teaspoonful of high pro-vitamin A canola oil in the diet is enough to provide the recommended daily intake of Vitamin A for an adult. Now a commercial company, in collaboration with the Michigan State University, the US Agency for International Development, and the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) in India are working on applying this technology and expertise to mustard oil, which is a close relative of canola.

“We hope that the success of this project will help alleviate Vitamin A deficiency among our people, especially children,” says Dr Vibha Dhawan, the principal investigator for the project for TERI.

There are also a number of regional research projects to improve iron and pro-vitamin A content of Asia's staple food, rice. Several projects are currently being carried out that use biotechnology tools like genetic modification to increase the iron content in rice. One of these iron-rich rice varieties contains a gene from a bean that doubles the rice’s iron content. This new rice variety also has another gene that makes the iron more easily absorbed after it is digested.

For more information about ongoing research projects in Asia, click on the July issue of the Asian Food Information Centre's newsletter, Food Facts Asia www.afic.org

For more information about the Global Health Challenges Awards, click on
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/nr/downloads/globalhealth/GCGH_Grants_Backgrounder.pdf