Summary
This review by White and Broadley, published in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society in 2005, examines the scientific basis and practical strategies for biofortifying staple and horticultural crops with minerals critical to human health. The authors consider both agronomic interventions — such as soil and foliar fertilisation — and longer-term plant breeding and transgenic approaches to increasing mineral bioavailability in the food supply. The paper situates crop biofortification within the broader context of global micronutrient deficiency, commonly referred to as 'hidden hunger', and evaluates the relative promise of different strategies across crop species.
UK applicability
Although the review is international in scope, it is directly relevant to UK policy and agronomy, particularly given UK soil selenium deficiencies and ongoing interest in agronomic biofortification of wheat and vegetables; the authors are UK-based researchers (Scottish Crop Research Institute and University of Nottingham), lending particular relevance to temperate arable and horticultural systems.
Key measures
Mineral element concentrations in edible tissues (mg/kg or µg/kg); dietary reference values; estimated prevalence of mineral deficiencies in human populations
Outcomes reported
The paper reviews strategies for increasing concentrations of essential mineral elements — including iron, zinc, selenium, iodine, and calcium — in edible crop tissues, assessing both agronomic and genetic approaches to biofortification.
Topic tags
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