Agronomic problems related to provitamin A carotenoid-rich plants.

OBJECTIVES

Review how agricultural systems might be changed to increase the vitamin A density of diets in developing countries to provide sustainable solutions to vitamin A deficiency globally.

DESIGN

Develop agricultural systems that not only assure calorie adequacy for people, but also address vitamin A density in diets.

SETTINGS

Agricultural systems could be modified in some developing nations in ways that would provide adequate dietary amounts of provitamin A carotenoids from plant food sources.

SUBJECTS

Infants and children of low-income families are most at risk of developing vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.

INTERVENTIONS

Cropping systems could be modified to include more vegetable and fruit crops containing higher bioavailable amounts of provitamin A carotenoids in some countries. Additionally, cultural practices could be modified through education, agricultural extension and/or social marketing to insure that the bioavailable provitamin A carotenoid levels in food crops are optimized. Staple food crops could be improved as sources of provitamin A carotenoids by traditional plant breeding and/or by genetic engineering efforts.

RESULTS

Currently, many techniques are available to increase the vitamin A content of diets through sustainable food-based approaches. Agricultural approaches should be examined closely to finding sustainable food-based system solutions to vitamin A deficiency globally.

CONCLUSIONS

The world community should strive to find food-based system approaches to eliminating vitamin A deficiency. Modifying agricultural systems in ways that will not only maximizing food production, but also insure nutritional adequacy of vitamin A is a desirable goal for many developing countries.