Dietary Deficiencies Threaten Billions

Dietary shortages of crucial vitamins and minerals like zinc and iron may be keeping as many as a third of the world's people from reaching their full potential, researchers told a U.N. panel.

"Resources and technology to bring vitamin and mineral deficiencies under control do exist. What we need is the will, the effort and the action to fix this problem," said Venkatesh Mannar of the Ottawa-based Micronutrient Initiative, which co-funded studies with the U.N. children's agency UNICEF.

Severe deficiencies in key nutrients can trigger medical problems including anemia, cretinism and blindness, but less extreme deficiencies can also cause serious problems, said the studies presented to a meeting of the U.N. Standing Committee on Nutrition, an arm of the World Health Organization.

A shortage of iron in the diet crimps young children's development and intelligence and a deficiency in Vitamin A compromises the immune system of about 40 percent of children under five in developing nations, the researchers said. They said a shortfall in iodine causes as many as 20 million babies a year to be born mentally impaired.

Zinc deficiency may be the most under-reported global health problem, they said.

As many as one-fifth of the world's population lack enough zinc in their diets, putting children in particular at risk of dwarfism, diarrhea and serious respiratory infections like pneumonia, the studies found.

Simple remedies that have worked well in the industrialized world, such as fortifying flour or milk with key vitamins and minerals or distributing supplements to children or pregnant women are so inexpensive and widely available that they should be applied worldwide, said UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy.

With roughly 2 billion people at risk, "the overwhelming scope of the problem makes it clear that we must reach out to whole populations and protect them from the devastating consequences of vitamin and mineral deficiency," she said.

A separate report presented to the conference said

improvements in nutrition among the world's poor have lagged far behind global economic growth.

The report, "Nutrition for Improved Development Outcomes" said there had been steady progress throughout the world with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa.

"Adequate nutrition for all will have the single most important impact in the overall development of people in the world," Catherine Bertini, chair of the U.N. nutrition committee, said at a news briefing.

Bertini, an American who is a former head of the U.N. World Food Program, said global economic growth over the last 20 years increased 100 percent while the numbers of underweight preschoolers increased by almost 20 percent.

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".