Introduction
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), the leading cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide, is especially prevalent in India (Chow, Klein & Laxminarayan, 2010). Due to the limited availability of nutritious staple foods in poor and rural areas, India hosts about 35 million children with
VAD—the greatest number, and the greatest percentage, of VAD children in the world (ibid). VAD also affects more than 12 percent of pregnant women in India, causing them and many of their children to suffer not only blindness, but also increased mortality and increased vulnerability to infections such as measles and diarrhea (Dawe, Robertson & Unnevehr, 2002).
Since the first attempts to genetically modify rice to synthesize vitamin A (also known …show more content…
Target Groups
The groups most affected by VAD are children under the age of 5 and pregnant and lactating women. These groups are at the highest risk due to their intimate relationship with each other at the beginning of a child’s life. These dietary risks, to mother and child, are due to inadequate vitamin A intake in the household diet leading to insufficient vitamin A in the breast milk (main source of vitamin
A for infants under 1.5 years of age) or diet for children 1.5 to 5 years of age. Lack of fat intake also increases the likelihood of VAD households as fat is needed to metabolize vitamin A. Pregnant women may develop symptoms of VAD deficiency (such as night blindness) during pregnancy, then experience a spontaneous cessation of symptoms immediately after birth as her biological demands for vitamin A are not as high after birth. A lactating mother may be marginally nourished, then after weaning, the child experiences symptoms of VAD through inadequate vitamin A in diet. A mother may not be able or desire to breast feed, and coupled with a lack of green leafy vegetables, milk, eggs, dairy, liver, and/or mango/papaya (all examples of vitamin A rich foods) in the household …show more content…
& DarntonHill, 2008).
Nutritional Value
To enhance the levels of vitamin A in the target populations’ diets, health practitioners have recommended industrial fortification of flour or other products, administering nongenetically modified food supplements, or introducing genetically modified golden rice or golden mustard into target populations’ diets. We focus on two alternatives: supplements and golden rice.
The United States Agency for International Development has distributed vitamin A capsules in
Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines (Dawe et al., 2002). Because the retinol in these capsules can be stored in the liver for 46 months after being ingested, they are usually distributed twice a year to reduce distribution costs (ibid). When integrated into the process of administering polio vaccines, vitamin A supplements in the Philippines were successfully delivered to about 90 percent of 1 to
5yearold children between 1993 and 1996; however, the country’s 1998 National Nutrition Survey still found that VAD was widespread (ibid). In 2002, the cost of addressing VAD
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), the leading cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide, is especially prevalent in India (Chow, Klein & Laxminarayan, 2010). Due to the limited availability of nutritious staple foods in poor and rural areas, India hosts about 35 million children with
VAD—the greatest number, and the greatest percentage, of VAD children in the world (ibid). VAD also affects more than 12 percent of pregnant women in India, causing them and many of their children to suffer not only blindness, but also increased mortality and increased vulnerability to infections such as measles and diarrhea (Dawe, Robertson & Unnevehr, 2002).
Since the first attempts to genetically modify rice to synthesize vitamin A (also known …show more content…
Target Groups
The groups most affected by VAD are children under the age of 5 and pregnant and lactating women. These groups are at the highest risk due to their intimate relationship with each other at the beginning of a child’s life. These dietary risks, to mother and child, are due to inadequate vitamin A intake in the household diet leading to insufficient vitamin A in the breast milk (main source of vitamin
A for infants under 1.5 years of age) or diet for children 1.5 to 5 years of age. Lack of fat intake also increases the likelihood of VAD households as fat is needed to metabolize vitamin A. Pregnant women may develop symptoms of VAD deficiency (such as night blindness) during pregnancy, then experience a spontaneous cessation of symptoms immediately after birth as her biological demands for vitamin A are not as high after birth. A lactating mother may be marginally nourished, then after weaning, the child experiences symptoms of VAD through inadequate vitamin A in diet. A mother may not be able or desire to breast feed, and coupled with a lack of green leafy vegetables, milk, eggs, dairy, liver, and/or mango/papaya (all examples of vitamin A rich foods) in the household …show more content…
& DarntonHill, 2008).
Nutritional Value
To enhance the levels of vitamin A in the target populations’ diets, health practitioners have recommended industrial fortification of flour or other products, administering nongenetically modified food supplements, or introducing genetically modified golden rice or golden mustard into target populations’ diets. We focus on two alternatives: supplements and golden rice.
The United States Agency for International Development has distributed vitamin A capsules in
Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines (Dawe et al., 2002). Because the retinol in these capsules can be stored in the liver for 46 months after being ingested, they are usually distributed twice a year to reduce distribution costs (ibid). When integrated into the process of administering polio vaccines, vitamin A supplements in the Philippines were successfully delivered to about 90 percent of 1 to
5yearold children between 1993 and 1996; however, the country’s 1998 National Nutrition Survey still found that VAD was widespread (ibid). In 2002, the cost of addressing VAD