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Golden Rice: What Role Could It Play in Alleviation of Vitamin a Deficiency?

D. Dawe
International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines

R. Robertson
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,326 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

L. Unnevehr
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,326 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Golden rice (GR) is a new rice variety that has been genetically modified to contain beta-carotene, a source of vA. This modification was undertaken as a strategy to address VAD, which is widespread in less developed countries of Asia. Children’s food intake data from a poor rural region of the Philippines are used to simulate the potential impact of GR on vA intake. The potential impact, coverage of deficient subpopulations, and costs of GR are com-pared to two other interventions, food fortification and supplementation. While investments in the future development of GR compare favorably with other interventions in terms of costs and coverage, GR would deliver amounts of vA that are modest, and unlikely to fulfill requirements. Thus, it should be viewed as a complement to existing interventions. To have the greatest impact at a cost comparable with wheat fortification, GR varieties should be suited for wide-spread adoption in Asia and should deliver as much beta-carotene as possible.

Keywords: Rice; Nutrition; Vitamin A deficiency; Household consumption

Location:

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Variety and Species

Commodity: Rice

Objectives:

Golden Rice (GR) was developed to provide a new, alternative intervention to combat VAD by genetically engineering rice to contain beta-carotene (the vA precursor found in plants) in the endosperm of the grain (Toenniessen, 2001). GR’s genetic engineering heritage has inspired conflicting opinions concerning its possible effectiveness and desirability.

Methodology:

The data used are from the 1994 Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. This survey identified and is following about 2000 families who had a child between May 1983 and April 1984. The mothers were selected while still pregnant. In addition to being interviewed at that time, the families were surveyed immediately after the birth of the child and every two months for the first 2 years. Follow-up surveys were conducted in 1991–1992, 1994–1995, and 1998–1999, expanding the range of information collected. We use the 1994 data for this paper as they include detailed food intake data for 1839 children aged 10–12 years. The consumption data record how much of which foods were eaten by the child throughout the course of one full day. These data were selected for our analysis because they provide recent, accurate food intake information for a population known to be at risk for VAD. These data are publicly available through the University of North Carolina (see web site athttp://www.cpc.unc.edu/cebu/). An important drawback to using these data is that Cebu is one of the places in Asia where rice is not the only staple.3Whiteflint maize(mainly in the form of grits) is of almost equal importance to rice in Cebuano diets(very little rice is grown and is thus imported from other Philippine regions), which will limit the potential impact of GR. On the other hand, adoption of GR will be a matter of consumer preference only and will not depend upon whether or not can be successfully produced for home consumption. The consumption of rice, maize, vegetables, and animal products is determined(as averages) for the original children in the survey who range from 10 to 12 years of age in 1994. These measurements are further broken down by asset quintile as measured by the total reported value of houses and lands owned by the household. Total household assets provide a measure of permanent income and are more easily obtained from these data than annual income. We use the consumption patterns of rice and white maize grits to estimate the effects of substituting GR and yellow maize grits. The amount of beta-carotene pro-vided by GR is that reported by Ye et al. (2000); the vA content of yellow maize grits is from the USDA (2001) food composition tables. In both cases, RAE is derived according to the conversion suggested by the National Academy of Sciencesreport (2001). For GR, we use two possible values, one reflecting the actual beta-carotene in the original variety created in Europe and another higher value reflecting the potentially achievable level in the future (Ye et al., 2000). These increases in vA from hypothetical substitutions are considered as fractions of the EAR and RDA, as well as compared to estimates of current vA intake and potential vA intake from wheat fortification.

Source of Information: Food Policy 27 (2002) 541–560

Article Link (Online Journal):

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Achievement/Findings:

It appears that GR has the potential to be a low-cost, wide-coverage intervention. While it can deliver substantial amounts of vA under certain scenarios, it is unlikely to meet all requirements and thus would be an ineffective stand-alone strategy. GR is best viewed as a possible addition to the menu of options for combating VAD and a possible complement to existing interventions. Under certain costs, assumptions are probably not worthwhile, but under other assumptions, GR could have quite a significant impact. Furthermore, it points the direction for research priorities in the development of GR. To have the greatest impact at a cost comparable with wheat fortification, GR varieties should be suited for widespread adoption in Asia and should deliver as much beta-carotene as possible. There are sufficiently high benefits under optimistic scenarios that it is worth the investment to explore what can be accomplished with this as yet unproven technology. Such exploration will provide lessons for other efforts to biofortify food staples for the poor.

Knowledge Management: Journal