MillNET_i: Millets and Nutritional Enhancement Traits for Iron bioavailability

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Iron deficiency remains the most prevalent nutritional deficiency worldwide, affecting an estimated 4 to 6 billion people. Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is the largest nutritional deficiency disorder in the world and one of the five leading causes of global disease burden. At any given moment, more individuals suffer from IDA than any other health problem with a staggering 1.24 billion affected individuals worldwide.In developing countries, millets are the most common form of cereals, often cultivated by female small holders in semi-arid tropic regions. Their resistance to drought and climate variability, along with nutrient dense characteristics, is attracting an increasing number of small scale farmers and governments in Sub Saharan Africa. While the nutritional value of millets has been identified, there has been limited progress on the creation of functional foods that are readily acceptable to populations. Biofortification of millets is also an emerging area research for enhancing nutritional quality.The goals of the two-year MillNETi are to tackle the major issue of iron bioavailability (relative to biofortification) by promoting the use and preparation of pearl and finger millets, initially in Ethiopia and The Gambia, but of wider relevance for many semi-arid regions of Africa. The programme has been co-created with colleagues in India, Ethiopia and The Gambia, and a consortium of UK expertise and will undertake fundamental scientific investigations for the GROWTH, PROCESSING and monitoring of iron BIOAVAILABILTY, allied to social science methodologies to disseminate knowledge and improved practices in cultivation and food preparation (EXTENSION) to regional populations. The programme builds on an existing programme of biofortification (ICRISAT), bioavailability testing (MRC- Gambia), and social science studies indicating that rural - urban migration is creating a demand for more nutritious foods such as millets both in The Gambia and Ethiopia.We will explore the basis of variation in crop iron uptake and availability traits in millets from contrasting regions and cropping practices (GROWTH: NIAB, UCAM, ICRISAT, EIAR). Additional research in Ethiopia on food preparation and processing (PROCESSING: BDU, ICRISAT, UCAM, MRC-Gambia) will be linked with a programme of internationally-validated human nutrition intervention studies (BIOAVAILABILITY: MRC-Gambia, UCAM), analysing plasma bioavailability of iron in healthy adult female representatives from local populations. As well as outreach to improve the nutrition and health of rural communities (EXTENSION (CGE/JeCCDO, BDU, UCAM: CGC, GFS IRC, CAPREX) additional insights from MillNETi on rural-urban linkages will be associated with the practice of food remitting, and potential role in food security, improved nutritional status and marketing opportunities for rural populations. These highly original observations will be of international significance for many populations in Africa and India, where the rural-urban divide represents a complex and interlinked reality of 'stretched' or 'multi-nodal' households.