Dear Wafaa,

To get good information from the Q&A, it would be good if you explicitly indicate (specify) what you would like to discuss or be informed. Am willing to discuss

The Role of Food and Nutrition System Approaches in Tackling Hidden Hunger

At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a bold global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and to address a series of time-bound health and development targets [1]. Among these Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a commitment to reduce the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by half between 1990 and 2015 [2], as set in the first MDG, with two targets monitored globally.

Statistics show that hunger continues to be a dramatic problem in developing and emerging countries and that the progress towards the achievement of this goal is slow, with nearly 1 billion hungry people [3]. However, hunger and calorie deficits are only one part of the story. Many have access to the minimum amount of calories, but are deficient in one or more micronutrients. Micronutrient deficiencies, estimated to affect at least 2 billion people, are the cause of so-called “hidden hunger”. Since micronutrient deficiencies lead to a vast range of diseases and other health disorders, their decrease is likely to help the achievement of the other health-related MDGs such as Goals 4, 5 and 6 which call for reductions in child mortality, maternal mortality and prevalence of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases, respectively.

There are nearly 925 million hungry people in the World [3]. This is a rough estimate based on the prevalence of people who are assumed to have an energy intake below that which is required to maintain body weight, body composition and levels of necessary and desirable physical activity for long-term good health. The number of those hungry is higher than that in 2007 as a partial consequence of the 2007–2008 food price crisis, and the overall recent economic crisis.

While the FAO is one of the most cited sources of data concerning hunger and food security, some experts disagree with the theoretical model in which these final numbers are obtained. The assumption is that hunger (often referred to as food security) is an exclusive outcome of the lack of sufficient calories for survival. The statistic is measured using a complex calculation which entails several steps: (1) identification of the total amount of food available in the country, through the “food balance sheet”, an input-output matrix where the quantities of food produced, traded, or eventually received under the form of food aid are registered; (2) subtraction of the quota of food which is assumed to perish and the one used for purposes different from human nutrition; (3) conversion of food into calories; (4) estimates of food distribution among households, first, and then within households based on household food, consumption or expenditure data; and (5) final estimates of the prevalence of hunger [4].

The FAO estimates show a decrease of those who are hungry during periods of increased national production because of assumed constant distribution of food nationally (household surveys are rarely undertaken, thus the distribution of calories is based on the previous survey). This emphasizes only the benefits of policies and programs focused on food availability, which we now understand is a limited view. Studies show that rising production may not have any impact on people’s access to food, and does not take into account the quality of food accessed or consumed [5,6].

The fact that hunger statistics deal only with caloric intake has been heavily criticized by nutritionists and by scholars advocating for a multi-dimensional idea of food security (Figure 1). A strictly calorie-based approach is incoherent with the widely accepted definition of food security given at the 1996 World Food Summit, according to which, “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” [7]. The stress on “safe and nutritious food”, as well as the final goal to ensure “an active and healthy life” calls for a broader, though more complex, analysis of people’s diet.

A new focus must be undertaken that addresses the longer-term determinants of nutrition insecurity and hidden hunger. There must be an emphasis on interventions that address food and nutrition security as part of a wider multi-sector strategy tailored to diverse conditions of major agroecological, socioeconomic and epidemiological situations. While underlying determinants of undernutrition have been well understood for decades, the design, testing and scaling of more holistic multi-sectoral packages that combine child care and disease control interventions with food system and livelihood-based approaches has been limited in their development and implementation.

studies regarding impact on environment and how that can be tackled by the dietary strategies For eg: Phosphorus and water pollution, methane emission, nitrogen excretion 

How could we improve ruminant productivity with a view to improving food security and livelihoods of people in developing countries while reducing enteric methane, which is believed to be (at least partly) responsible for climate change and global warming.

i think still so many grass root level problems are still not addressed,... if we can eliminate these problems and that will boost our productivity  and food security

Manipulation of rumen ecology/ruminal fermentation to mitigate methane and other green house gases production, and excessive N excretion, etc in ruminants. Use of pre- and probiotics instead of antibiotics in poultry. Application of biotechnology to enhance the utilization of fibrous feeds or improving the nutritive quality of lesser known feeds. 

If I could get some feed back on a protein source my firm has developed. Our process converts cellulose into an animal based protein using a process that has worked in nature for thousands of years. It is the industrialization of the first stomach of a ruminant animal. It produces a complete protein with omega 3, 6, & 9 fatty acids. It is a high calorie protein. The process converts cellulose into protein at the rate of about 1 metric tone per cubic meter of fermentation vessel per day. It works with a homogeneous, non-sterile, feed stock under non-sterile conditions to produce a dry, stable, sterile powder that can be blended into animal feed. If you would take the time to look at our website and technical papers and provide some feed back, it would be greatly appreciated. The website is www.integratedbiochem.com