Golden Rice project brief 

           

Revised  February 2012 (306 Kb)

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Vitamin A Factsheet (pdf)

Many people in the developing world do not get enough vitamin A or beta carotene from the food they eat, contributing to the serious public health problem of vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin A  |  Vitamin A deficiency  |  People at risk  |  Vitamin A deficiency in Asia  |  Reducing vitamin A deficiency  |  How Golden Rice could help

Vitamin A

Young children need vitamin A
to help them stay healthy and grow.

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient needed for the visual system, growth, development, and a healthy immune system. Everybody needs vitamin A to grow and thrive, particularly mothers and young children.

Vitamin A is found in animal products and breastmilk.  Carotenoids are substances like beta carotene that the body converts into vitamin A. They are found in orange-colored fruits and vegetables and in dark-green leafy vegetables. 

Vitamin A deficiency

Vitamin A deficiency results from a lack of vitamin A in the diet. Vitamin A deficiency can also be caused by infections that reduce appetite or the body’s ability to absorb vitamin A.

Vitamin A deficiency can damage the immune system and decrease the body’s ability to resist or fight infections, therefore increasing the risk of mortality from common diseases, especially among young children. Vitamin A deficiency may also result in impaired vision, including night blindness (the inability to see at night or in dim light) and may result in permanent, partial, or total blindness if left untreated.

Providing adequate amounts of vitamin A, on the other hand, reduces overall child mortality by 23-34%.

People at risk

Vitamin A deficiency is most prevalent among young children and pregnant and nursing women as they have increased nutrient requirements.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 190 million preschool children and 19 million pregnant women are vitamin A-deficient globally. Children with vitamin A deficiency are more likely to suffer from poor health and premature death. Each year, it is estimated that 670,000 children under the age of five die from vitamin A deficiency.   Vitamin A deficiency is the number one cause of preventable blindness among children in developing countries – as many as 350,000 go blind every year.

The poor in the developing world, who live primarily on a diet of starchy staples that lack vital micronutrients like vitamin A (such as rice), are particularly vulnerable to vitamin A deficiency. 

Vitamin A deficiency in Asia

Source: http://www.harvestplus.org/content/vitamin

 

Asia has one of the highest prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in the world, with the most clinical cases found there. Vitamin A deficiency is still considered a public-health problem in many countries of Asia and 33.5% of pre-school children have vitamin A deficiency.

The WHO Global Database on Vitamin A Deficiency reports that:

• In the Philippines, vitamin A deficiency affects approximately 1.7 million children (15.2%) aged 6 months to 5 years. Subclinical vitamin A deficiency affects one out of every ten pregnant women.
• In Bangladesh, one in every five children aged 6 months to 5 years is estimated to be vitamin A-deficient. Among pregnant women, 23.7% are affected by vitamin A deficiency.

Reducing vitamin A deficiency 

Helen Keller International (HKI) is a leading global health organization that has been instrumental in reducing vitamin A deficiency.  HKI's programs include:

"Considering that none of the current vitamin A interventions have universal coverage, it is best to use them in combination,” Ms. Nancy Haselow, HKI vice president and regional director for Asia-Pacific.

• Vitamin A capsule supplementation: In 2011, HKI enabled the distribution of 85 million capsules to children ages 6-59 months and postpartum women in the developing world. It takes two capsules a year to prevent vitamin A deficiency in children at a cost of $1 per child per year.
• Dietary diversification: HKI’s Homestead Food Production programs enable households to produce their own micronutrient-rich foods and earn additional income. HKI helps communities establish homestead gardens that produce fruits and vegetables and develop animal husbandry programs to provide food rich in vitamin A and other micronutrients year round.
• Large-scale fortification: HKI leads initiatives to fortify commonly-used foods, such as cooking oil with vitamin A, and engages in social marketing to encourage their consumption. Enriching food products with vitamin A is a cost-effective and long-term means to address vitamin A deficiency with limited behavior change on the part of consumers.
• Crop fortification:  HKI promotes the production and consumption of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes that have been bred to produce higher levels of beta carotene especially when compared to the traditionally grown white-fleshed varieties which don't have any beta carotene.

Vitamin A deficiency continues to adversely affect many people, especially the last 10-20% in the hardest-to-reach areas. In the Philippines, as in many developing countries, effective distribution systems for vitamin A supplementation are not in place to reach all people in need adequately and consistently so that the most vulnerable children and women in remote areas are often missed.

How Golden Rice could help

Because rice is widely produced and consumed, Golden Rice has the potential to reach many people, including those who do not have reliable access to or cannot afford other sources of vitamin A.

Golden Rice is intended to be used in combination with existing approaches to overcome vitamin A deficiency, including eating foods that are naturally high in vitamin A or beta carotene, eating foods fortified with vitamin A, taking vitamin A supplements, and optimal breastfeeding practices.

The body converts beta carotene in Golden Rice to vitamin A as it is needed. According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009, daily consumption of a very modest amount of Golden Rice – about a cup (or around 150 g uncooked weight) – could supply 50% of the Recommended Daily Allowance  of vitamin A for an adult.