Key Highlights from “Iron-Biofortified Rice Improves the Iron Stores of Non-Anemic Filipino Women,” Journal of Nutrition, 2005
- For the first time, researchers in the Philippines and the United States have confirmed that breeding rice to be high in iron, through a process known as biofortification, can have a statistically significant positive impact on human nutritional status.
- This finding is documented in the new study, “Iron-Biofortified Rice Improves the Iron Stores of Non-Anemic Filipino Women,” which reveals that it is possible to breed rice to deliver higher-than-normal concentrations of iron, an essential micronutrient.
- After a 9 month, double-blind study, the iron status of women who ate biofortified, iron-rich rice was 20 percent higher than in women who ate traditional rice. The study was conducted in the Philippines, where researchers monitored the diets of 192 Catholic sisters in 10 convents.
- Individuals in the study with the lowest levels of iron were found to absorb the additional iron provided in the rice at a higher rate.
- The study serves as proof of concept that it is possible to breed rice for nutrient density and have it improve the nutritional status of iron-deficient populations. Now that it is proven, researchers can move forward with confidence and develop rice varieties with even higher levels of iron that can withstand losses from cooking and processing.
- Subjects were randomly assigned to consume either high-iron biofortified rice (3.21 mg/kg Fe) or a local variety of rice (0.57 mg/kg Fe). Fe is the scientific symbol for iron.
- The high-iron biofortified rice contributed 1.79 mg Fe/day in contrast to 0.37 from the local variety, resulting in a 17 percent difference in total dietary iron consumed.
- The study found a modest increase of serum ferritin and total body iron, but no increase in hemoglobin. Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in the body. The serum ferritin level–the amount of ferritin in your blood–is directly proportional to the amount of iron stored in your body.
- Non-anemic subjects experienced a 20 percent increase in body iron.
- Under normal conditions, the subjects daily iron intake (8.0 mg/day) was low, representing only 44 percent of the RDA (18 mg/day).
- Dietary data collected from the subjects indicated that rice, on average, provided 53 percent of their daily food energy.
- Biofortified rice could shift the percentage of subjects meeting their estimated average requirement from 53 to 71 percent. Other interventions such as supplementation or commercially fortifying foods could close the dietary deficiency gap even more.