Experts at Kerala meet say fortified rice key to address malnutrition in India

In his inaugural address through videoconferencing, HN Mishra, Emeritus Professor, (Food Technology), IIT Kharagpur, said that in the pursuit of a comprehensive strategy to eradicate micronutrient malnutrition, fortification has emerged as an efficient and cost-effective alternative.

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Anaemia in children and women

As per the WHO, anaemia is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal.

Haemoglobin (Hb) levels less than 12.0 g/dL in women and less than 13.0 g/dL in men is defined as anaemia.

Mishra said that as per WHO data, globally about 37 percent of pregnant women and 40 percent of children under the age of five suffer from iron deficiency, which merits urgent intervention.

As per the National Family Health Survey 2021, about 58 percent of children, 57 percent of women and 22 percent of men in India are anaemic.

“To address anaemia and micro-nutrient deficiency, the Government of India allocated a total budget outlay of ₹174.64 crore for a period of three years from 2019-20 under a pilot scheme under PM’s POSHAN Abhiyaan. It envisages distribution of fortified rice through the public distribution system,” he said.

Mishra said the initiative has reached around 12 crore children and 10.3 crore women across the country. The government aims to reach 50 crore beneficiaries under the scheme by 2024. Commodities that are being fortified in India are milk, oil, wheat, rice and salt.

Also read: Malnutrition cuts across social classes in India

Rice fortification

According to him, effective implementation of the fortification of the rice programme requires quality control, quality analysis, regulatory standard and coordination among stakeholders.

C Anandharamakrishnan, Director, CSIR-NIIST, in his presidential address, said that there are currently 18,227 rice mills equipped with rice-nutrient blending infrastructure, indicating a widespread capacity for producing fortified rice.

Citing that grain fortification has the potential to reduce anaemia and improve iron and vitamin levels, he said CSIR-NIIST will come up with its own FRK soon.

“Since food security is a concern, we need healthier products and focus on fortification of grains. To balance over-nutrition and under-nutrition, we need to look for alternative proteins,” he said.

Suggesting that FRK is a good business to start, Anandharamakrishnan said the fortified rice market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3 percent and reach a market size of $28.4 billion by 2027.

Milli Asrani, Programme Policy Officer, Food Technology, United Nations World Food Programme, New Delhi, said fortification of rice provides an opportunity to add micronutrients lost during milling and polishing. It also helps add other micronutrients such as iron, zinc, folic acid, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A.

Global intervention

Noting that milling of rice removes fat and micronutrient-rich bran layers to produce the commonly consumed starch-white rice, she said polishing further removes 75-90 percent of Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, and Niacin.

Commenting that food fortification is a global intervention that addresses the issue of micronutrient deficiencies, Asrani said it is scientifically proven, cost-effective, scalable and sustainable.

Citing WHO studies, she said fortification costs only $0.05 to $0.25 per person per year.

“Currently, there are more than 600 FSSAI-registered FRK manufacturers in the country. Iodisation of salt is a successful food fortification process in India,” Asrani said.

The apprehension that fortified rice is plastic rice and FRK causes change in taste and smell of rice is completely baseless, she added.

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Micronutrient-rich rice helps combat diabetes

In June a study has identified rice varieties that hold great promise in managing blood glucose levels, particularly in individuals with diabetes.

Conducted by a team of researchers from Kerala, the study not only shed light on the micronutrient content of rice but also highlighted its potential impact on human health, specifically in diabetes management.

Speaking to South First, Prof Jos, Professor and Head of Department of Botany, University of Calicut, says, “Several rice varieties of landraces — the traditional rice varieties — that we used for our research are highly nutritious. Unfortunately, most of these varieties are not available in the market. It would definitely benefit health-wise if farmers adapt to growing such varieties and government pays attention to this.”

According to the study, deficiencies in zinc and iron can lead to severe micronutrient malnutrition. The researchers compared the zinc content of the samples with indigenous aromatic rice varieties in West Bengal and the Gangetic plains of India.

While the zinc content of the studied rice samples was lower than those varieties, it was similar to the concentrations observed in landrace types from Arunachal Pradesh.

Notably, brown rice with a zinc content of 35 mg/kg or more is considered suitable for biofortification, and several landrace and hybrid varieties studied exceeded this limit, making them ideal candidates for future biofortification programmes.

Although Dr Sylvia Karpagam opines that corporate-dependent fortification, processing/ultra-processing, packaged foods, etc., cannot be offered as solutions because they are not, as there is no evidence to suggest that fortification of cereals with micronutrients is cost-effective.

(With PTI inputs)