Biofortified Maize: Cure for Children Malnutrition

Maize is one of the most important crops in the world. In Africa, it is the staple food of more than 300 million people. In other developing countries, maize or corn may not be the main food source, but it is one of the crops that they can rely on to provide nourishment to the starving malnourished population, specially the children.

To further help the poor nations provide nutritious food to their people, biofortified maize called quality protein maize (QPM) was produced by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Consumers would not recognize the difference in the flavor of regular maize from QPM. However, QPM has a naturally-occurring mutant maize gene that enhances the production of amino acids necessary for protein synthesis in humans.

Statistician Nilupa Gunaratna from the International Nutrition Foundation led a team composed of another statistician, an economist, a nutritionist and a plant breeder, and analyzed the impact of QPM on malnourished children. In their paper entitled A Meta-analysis of Community-based Studies on Quality Protein Maize, they explained that when maize-dependent malnourished children consume QPM, their growth rate for height boost by 9 percent, while their growth rate for weight increased by 12 percent. 

The news article is available at http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/news/2010/apr/kernels-qpm.htm.