Solutions to health pressures

A researcher in Guatemala has been awarded €120, 000 for his work on finding solutions to the public health problems caused by malnutrition.

Dr Ricardo Bressani of the Universidad del Valle, Guatemala, received theprize, sponsored by French dairy firm Danone, at the Latin American Societyof Nutrition Congress in Acapulco, Mexico, earlier this month.

"Dr Bressani's life-time commitment to finding long-term solutions relatedto undernutrition has made a profound impact on the lives of people InGuatemala,"​ said Professor J.E. Dutra de Oliviera, chairman of the 2003Danone International Prize for Nutrition. "We congratulate Dr. Bressani onhis exemplary career and we are confident his current and future endeavourswill prove equally fertile."​

The prize is awarded every two years to a researcher or research team whichhas promoted public health through better nutrition.

It is estimated that worldwide about 800 million people are chronicallyundernourished. More than 153 million of them are children under the age of5. Often dubbed the world's 'silent emergency', undernutrition is caused byinsufficient intake of one or more specific nutrients such as vitamins orminerals (micronutrient malnutrition) or insufficient intake of energy(protein-energy malnutrition or PEM). PEM is by far the most lethal form ofundernutrition.

For over four decades Dr Bressani has been committed to find effectivesolutions to counteracting undernutrition in Guatemala, where according to arecent report of the Inter American Development Bank, 48% of infants andyoung children are undernourished.

Dr Bressani's long-term research interest involves not only the study of thenutritional potential and limitations of basic staple foods such as cerealgrains, food legumes and oil seeds, but also the effects of processing onnutritional quality. In this light, Dr Bressani studied, for example, theso-called process of nixtamalisation, a traditional cooking processdeveloped by Inca and Maya, and used to convert maize into a food called'tortilla' which is largely consumed in some Central American countries. DrBressani came to the conclusion that this process led to significantincrease of calcium and niacin, as well as decrease of phytic acid, acomponent that decreases iron availability.

This research project showedthat the consumption of tortilla's generates significant beneficialnutritional consequences specifically in women and children, such as absenceof calcium deficiency and subsequent osteoporosis.

Also, in light of the PEM issue in Guatemala, Dr Bressani has been very muchinvolved in the development of high quality vegetable protein mixtures forchildren and adults. One of the prime products, Incaparina, has been on theGuatemalan market for over 40 years and has become part of the so calledGuatemalan Food Basket.

Dr Bressani's present work to improve people's diets includes the study ofnew vegetable resources -such as the amaranth grain- once consumed by Mayaand Aztec populations, studies on autochthonous drinks, unconventional foodlegumes such as Mucuna beans amongst other.