Enhancing cobalamin (vitamin B12) bioavailability in culturally appropriate foods in India

B12缺乏和不足被认为是发达国家和发展中国家营养不良的一种隐藏的世界性流行病。然而，毫无疑问，在印度，这个问题是巨大的，据估计，大约有10亿人营养水平较低。这不仅是普遍营养不良的结果，也是与素食主义相关的文化习俗造成的，因为农作物中的B12水平非常低。在这项申请中，我们的目标是启动一项工作计划，通过将英国的专业知识与印度的专业知识相结合来解决这一营养缺乏的挑战。具体地说，我们想调查一种新构建的重组大肠杆菌是否可以用来提供大量纯化的B12。为了实现这一目标，我们将把肯特大学的代谢工程工作与孟买ICT的过程工程能力结合起来。开发一种合适的提取程序将使我们能够与Cipla等化学公司进行互动，这些公司表示，如果开发出一种合适的高产量方法，有兴趣推动这一进程。这使印度有可能自己生产所有的B12，而不必依赖昂贵的进口。通过这样做，这也将解决对全球营养供应的严重担忧，因为目前约90%的B12是在中国生产的。我们还计划探索以藻类和高等植物的形式使用文化上可接受的替代B12浓缩来源。已知许多藻类能够吸收这种营养，但仅进行了有限的研究，以评估在藻类中发现的B12是否对人类具有生物可用性。同样，我们最近发现，一些高等植物，如春水芹，在植物生长时也能够吸收B12。然而，就像藻类一样，目前还不知道这种营养物质是否可以生物利用。因此，除了研究如何提高藻类和高等植物对B12的摄取，我们还将进行志愿者试验，以确定从这些来源制备的食物是否能够缓解志愿者的B12缺乏症。这项工作将结合英国在提供生长条件方面的专业知识，孟买的食品技术专家和浦那的临床专业知识来解决这个问题。这是一系列激动人心的实验，有可能为两个发展中国家的B12缺乏症提供变革性的解决方案。

B12 deficiency and insufficiency is thought to represent a hidden worldwide epidemic of nutrient malnutrition in both developed and developing countries. However, there is no doubt that in India the problem is on a vast scale, with estimates of around 1 billion people having low levels of the nutrient. This is a consequence not only of general malnutrition but also due to cultural practices associated with vegetarianism, since crops have very low levels of B12. In this application we aim to initiate a programme of work to address this nutrient-deficiency challenge, by combining expertise in the UK with that found in India. Specifically, we want to investigate if a newly constructed recombinant strain of E. coli can be used to provide large quantities of purified B12. To achieve this we will combine the metabolic engineering work at the University of Kent with the process engineering capability found at the ICT in Mumbai. The development of a suitable extraction procedure will allow us to interact with chemical companies such as Cipla, who have expressed an interest in taking this forward if a suitable high-yielding method is developed. This holds the potential for India to be able to produce all its own B12 rather than having to rely on expensive imports. In so doing, this will also address serious concerns about global nutrient supply, since currently around 90% of B12 is produced in China. We also plan to explore the use of alternative culturally acceptable enriched sources of B12 in the form of algae and higher plants. Many algae are known to be able to absorb the nutrient but only limited studies have been undertaken in order to assess whether the B12 found in algae is bioavailable to humans. Similarly, we have recently found that some higher plants, such as spring cress, are also able to absorb B12 when the plants are grown with the nutrient. However, as with algae, it is not known whether the nutrient is bioavailable. Therefore, apart from investigating ways to enhance B12 uptake into algae and higher plants, we will undertake volunteer trials to determine whether food prepared from these sources is able to alleviate B12 deficiency in the volunteers. This work will combine expertise in the UK in providing the growth conditions, the food technologists in Mumbai and the clinical expertise in Pune to address this problem. This represents an exciting series of experiments that holds the potential to provide transformative solutions to B12 deficiency in both developing developed countries.