KMICS Journal of Sciences

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Sheelendra M Bhatt et al; Jan 5, 2023

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Nutritional Prospects in Wheat Bio-Fortification

Sheelendra. M. Bhatt1* & Afrin jahan2
1Department of Agriculture, Punjab Technical  University, AGC, Amritsar, Punjab
2Bhimrao Ambedkar University, lucknow
*Corresponding author

ABSTRACT

The daily dietary recommendation of micronutrients is different for both men and women.  For example, women’s requirement for zinc is 8 mg/day, while for men it is 11 mg/day. The daily meal does not always meet such requirements of micronutrients. Therefore, these micronutrients have been provided from outside sources, in the form of fortifications and biofortifications. In the present article, wheat, the major cereal for breakfast all around the world is addressed, with respect to its potential, various approaches taken on fortification and biofortification of wheat, and future challenges.

Received: Oct 23, 2022 | Accepted: December 20, 2022 | Published: Jan 05, 2023
Keywords: Micronutrient supplementation, Biofortification
Citation: Sheelendra M Bhatt & Afrin jahan (2023) Nutritional Prospects in Wheat Bio-Fortification. KMICS Journal of Sciences 1(1). https://doi.org/10.62011/kmicsjs.2023.1.1.4
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Copyright: ©2023 Sheelendra M Bhatt, Afrin jahan. This is an open-access article. The use, distribution, and reproduction of this article in any medium is unrestricted, provided the original author and source are cited.
Correspondence: drsmbhatt@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Worldwide, over 372 million preschool-aged children and 1.2 billion non-pregnant women of reproductive age, were found to be deficient in micronutrients. Among the non-pregnant women of reproductive age, about 307 million are from South Asia1.

Among the several micronutrients, deficiency of iron and zinc are ranked ninth and eleventh, respectively, in the global nutritional index2,3.  Further, there have also been several reports on deficiencies of these micronutrients in India4,5,6.  As per data of 2018 around 2 billion people have faced mortality because of Vitamin B malnutrition7.  A severe micronutrient deficiency was also reported in school-going children and adolescents8, in tribal adolescents9, and further in pregnant women10.

One of the major causes of micronutrient deficiency is malnutrition.  According to a WHO report, globally, 5% of children (144 million children) under five years are stunted, as recorded for the year 201911.  To eliminate malnutrition on a global scale, WHO has advocated for making policies in individual states to promote nutrition.

FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

India has framed several policies like National nutrition policy, National health policy, and National Plan of action on nutrition, and implemented several programs to secure food and nutrition for the people living in poverty in India.

Food hunger is one of the major issues in India, the Indian Government has launched programs such as ‘Midday Meal Scheme’ (MMS), ‘Integrated Child Development Services scheme’ (ICDSS), and ‘Public Distribution System’ (PDS), under National Food Security Act,  in 2013, with mission to provide food and nutritional security to people of low economic background and to reduce the hunger index.

MINERAL MALNUTRITION & NUTRITIONAL SECURITY

Mineral malnutrition can be successfully addressed by taking essential nutrition from outside sources, that is fortification of the foods; or by producing Biofortified cereals.

Fortification of the foods

Processing of the cereals results in loss of the outer seed coat, which generally contains important vitamins and minerals.  Supplementation of minerals and vitamins was therefore adopted by various industries in various countries.  Today 66 countries have fortification programs in place for wheat flour, maize flour, and rice12. These fortifications are done with the aim to cope with malnutrition and undernourished people.  In India, food industries like the ITC, General Mills, Hindustan Unilever, Patanjali, and Cargill have fortified their flagship brands of wheat flour (atta) such as Aashirwaad, Pillsbury, Annapurna, Nature, etc., as per FSSAI regulations. While fortification may appear to have benefitted, it has its own demerits, such as the fortifier may not have uniformly disseminated in the food vehicle, a poor choice of food vehicle, challenges of bioavailability, and further on toxicity upon excess13.

BioFortification

Biofortification is the process of increasing the concentration and/or bioavailability of essential elements in the edible part of the plant. While the simplest methods are the addition of minerals via fertilizer applications to the growing plants, scientific methods include the identification of plant varieties that show increased absorption and storage of these minerals in the edible parts, and further transfer of such traits to other crop plants, which are achieved by selective breeding or by making transgenic plants14.

The choice of crop plant for biofortification is a major determinant in achieving an overall benefit, that is, it should be available to a common person.  Biofortification of cereals like wheat, rice, maize, pearl millet, and sorghum, which are the staple food of various geographical regions, can majorly affect the goals of reaching out to the common person and hence reduce the deficiency index.

Among the various cereals, the total consumption volume of wheat as reported during 2021/2022 is 103.5 million metric tons15.  The cereal crops including wheat are inherently low in micronutrients like Zn in their grains. Moreover, wheat grown from such micronutrient-deficient soils will result in less sequestration of the mineral than the minimum value, and the consequence of consuming such food is malnutrition, particularly in low-income populations16.

Biofortification via Fertilizer Applicaiton

Various reports of bio-fortified wheat have been available in the past few years which is rich in one or other minerals such as zinc17,18,.  Fortification of Zinc is done via fertilizer with excess  zinc17.  The majority of Zn biofortification studies have concentrated on enhancing grain yield20. Different techniques of Zn application may have different effects on grain Zn concentration and yield. The soil and foliar application method is the most efficient way to increase grain Zn, and it may lead to an increase in grain Zn concentration of about three times21.  Zn application during the grain development stage results in higher Zn concentration in the grain21. Application of Zn-coated urea fertilizer also significantly improved both grain yield and grain Zn concentrations22.

Another study found a substantial positive association between Zn and Fe (r = 0.73), indicating that selecting for high Zn and Fe densities simultaneously could produce very effective pulses23.

Several studies reported a high correlation between Zn and Fe in pearl millet24, and wheat25. In wheat iron and zinc correlate positively26 and the highest concentrations (up to 85 mg/kg) were detected in landraces as well as in wild and primitive relatives27.

Biofortification via Genetic Interventions

Genetic interventions via QTL introgressions: High-yielding rice and wheat varieties (by grain weight and numbers) are usually low in iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content in their grains. Identification of variants with higher zinc concentrations, mapping of their QTLs, and introgression of these loci onto regular cultivars, was found to have improved zinc concentrations in the regular cultivars28,29,30.

Genetic Interventions via Transgenics

A large number of studies on metabolic pathways and physiology of the sequestration of minerals like iron and zinc has led to the identification of genes, that have a key role in the uptake, transport, and storage of these minerals31,32,33.  These studies have led to the development of transgenic plants that incorporate or increase the expression of such genes34,35,36.

An approach for increasing the bioavailability of Fe in diets is the reduction of dietary phytate. This sugar-like molecule binds a high proportion of dietary Fe so that the human body is unable to absorb it.   A transgenic rice variety expressing phytase enzyme of a fungal origin was shown to break down phytate, thus improving the bioavailability of Fe in rice diets37.   The use of ‘crispr-cas9’ method to disrupt inositol pentakisphosphate 2- kinase 1 (TaIPK1) was also found to reduce phytic acid levels38.  One of the wheat varieties rich in anthocyanin is purple wheat.  Anthocyanins are water-soluble pigments that belong to the class called flavonoids. Based on the total phenolic acid and antioxidant content (134>122>120>13 in total anthocyanin test TAC) the grain is enhanced in order of color such as black>blue>purple>white39,40.

 Bio-fortified wheat and concerns

The average grain Zn content in wheat is 31.84 mg·kg−1 globally, but varies across continents, for example, 25.10 mg·kg−1 in Europe, 29.00 mg·kg−1 in Africa, 33.63 mg·kg−1 in Asia, and 33.91 mg·kg−1 in North America.

Grain Zn content in wheat improved from 28.96 to 36.61 mg·kg−1 and that in flour increased from 10.51 to 14.82 mg·kg−1 after Zn fortification41.

Zinc content varied in the different processed components of wheat; that is, Zn content was 12.58 mg·kg−1 in flour, 70.49 mg·kg−1 in shorts, and 86.45 mg·kg−1 in bran. Zinc content was also different in wheat-derived foods, such as 13.65 mg·kg−1 in baked food, 10.65 mg·kg−1 in fried food, and 8.03 mg·kg−1 in cooking food. Therefore, suitable Zn fortification, appropriate processing, and food type of wheat are important to meet the requirement41.

CONCLUSION

As has been noticed, there have been a large number of studies focusing on increasing the iron and zinc content, in Wheat grains.  Likewise, it is also important to concentrate on increasing the mineral content of other micronutrients like molybdenum, manganese, etc, as well.  Further, this increase needs to be proportionate to the meal-serving portion for an average person, as a higher side may bring in new glitches like toxicity, etc.  The micronutrient-rich grains may also welcome new plant pathogens, the susceptibility of which needs to be addressed, and hence on development of varieties resistant to such pathogens, which will benefit not only the consumer but also the producer.

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