Food system strategies for preventing micronutrient malnutrition

By D. Miller, Ross M. Welch. Food Policy, 2013

329 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Micronutrients are defined as substances in foods that are essential for human health and are required in small amounts. They include all of the known vitamins and essential trace minerals. Micronutrient malnutrition affects ⅓–½ of the global population. It causes untold human suffering and levies huge costs on society in terms of unrealized human potential and lost economic productivity. The goal of this paper is to identify deficiencies in the food system that lead to micronutrient malnutrition and explore and evaluate strategies for its prevention. We examine the impact of agricultural practices on micronutrients in the food supply, including cropping systems, soil fertility and animal agriculture. We then discuss the potential of biofortification – i.e. increasing the concentration of micronutrients in staple food crops through conventional plant breeding or genetic engineering– as a means to reduce micronutrient deficiency. In addition, we discuss the impact of food losses and food waste on micronutrients in the food supply, and we explore successful strategies to preserve micronutrients from farm to plate, including food fortification. Our review of the literature sheds light on the advantages and limitations of alternative interventions to reduce micronutrient deficiencies along the supply chain. We end with recommendations for actions that will reduce the prevalence of micronutrient malnutrition.

Subfields: Ecology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/92c9bdd200f25c1b50e07d828f00c5a80dae25b5

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. Ruerd Ruben
2. I. Brouwer
3. J. McDermott
4. K. Ricketts
5. Miguel I. Gómez

In Nutrition and Dietetics

1. Ruerd Ruben
2. I. Brouwer
3. J. McDermott

In Plant Science

1. Ruerd Ruben
2. I. Brouwer
3. J. McDermott
4. K. Ricketts
5. Miguel I. Gómez
6. R. Fort

Citations in the corpus

• Post-green revolution food systems and the triple burden of malnutrition (2013, unknown): “Miller and Welch (2013) examine the importance of agricultural practices (e.”
• Food systems everywhere: Improving relevance in practice (2020, methodology): “The frameworks used to assess system performance and the diagnostics applied for identifying system change lead to different strategies and policy proposals aiming to overcoming specific food systems failures (Eakin et al., 2017; Miller and Welch, 2013).”
• Food value chain transformations in developing countries: Selected hypotheses on nutritional implications (2013, background): “Monotonous diets composed primarily of staple foods are associated with increased risk for micronutrient malnutrition (Miller and Welch, 2013).”