International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center-Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe; Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, UPR AIDA, Montpellier, France; Agroécologie et Intensification Durable des cultures Annuelles, Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France.
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center-Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
J Nutr. 2024 Jun;154(6):1815-1826. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.009. Epub 2024 Apr 8.
Evidence of the effectiveness of biofortified maize with higher provitamin A (PVA) to address vitamin A deficiency in rural Africa remains scant.
This study projects the impact of adopting PVA maize for a diversity of households in an area typical of rural Zimbabwe and models the cost and composition of diets adequate in vitamin A.
Household-level weighed food records were generated from 30 rural households during a week in April and November 2021. Weekly household intakes were calculated, as well as indicative costs of diets using data from market surveys. The impact of PVA maize adoption was modeled assuming all maize products contained observed vitamin A concentrations. The composition and cost of the least expensive indicative diets adequate in vitamin A were calculated using linear programming.
Very few households would reach adequate intake of vitamin A with the consumption of PVA maize. However, from a current situation of 33%, 50%-70% of households were projected to reach ≥50% of their requirements (the target of PVA), even with the modest vitamin A concentrations achieved on-farm (mean of 28.3 μg RAE per 100 g). This proportion would increase if higher concentrations recorded on-station were achieved. The estimated daily costs of current diets (mean ± standard deviation) were USD 1.43 ± 0.59 in the wet season and USD 0.96 ± 0.40 in the dry season. By comparison, optimization models suggest that diets adequate in vitamin A could be achieved at daily costs of USD 0.97 and USD 0.79 in the wet and dry seasons, respectively.
The adoption of PVA maize would bring a substantial improvement in vitamin A intake in rural Zimbabwe but should be combined with other interventions (e.g., diet diversification) to fully address vitamin A deficiency.
在农村非洲，用富含更高生素 A（PVA）的生物强化玉米来解决维生素 A 缺乏症的证据仍然很少。
本研究旨在预测在津巴布韦农村典型地区，采用富含 PVA 的玉米对不同家庭的影响，并建立维生素 A 充足饮食的成本和组成模型。
2021 年 4 月和 11 月的一周内，从 30 户农村家庭中生成了家庭级称重食物记录。计算了每周家庭摄入量，并使用市场调查数据计算了饮食的指示性成本。假设所有玉米产品都含有观察到的维生素 A 浓度，采用模型来模拟采用 PVA 玉米的影响。使用线性规划计算了最廉价的、含有充足维生素 A 的指示性饮食的组成和成本。
很少有家庭仅通过食用富含 PVA 的玉米就能获得足够的维生素 A 摄入量。然而，与当前 33%的情况相比，即使在农场获得的维生素 A 浓度适中（平均每 100 克 28.3μg RAE），50%-70%的家庭预计也能达到 50%或以上的需求（PVA 的目标）。如果在站内获得更高的浓度，这一比例将会增加。当前饮食的估计每日成本（平均值±标准差）在雨季为 1.43 美元±0.59 美元，在旱季为 0.96 美元±0.40 美元。相比之下，优化模型表明，在雨季和旱季，分别可以以每天 0.97 美元和 0.79 美元的成本获得维生素 A 充足的饮食。
在津巴布韦农村地区，采用富含 PVA 的玉米将大大改善维生素 A 的摄入量，但应与其他干预措施（例如饮食多样化）相结合，以全面解决维生素 A 缺乏症。
