Zinc is involved in more body functions than any other mineral.

Lack of dietary zinc is a major cause of early childhood illness and death. Current estimates indicate that about one third of the world’s population live in countries where the risk of zinc deficiency is high.

Wheat is the main food source for hundreds of millions of people around the world. HarvestPlus is breeding wheat varieties with higher levels of zinc to reduce zinc deficiency at the public health level in developing countries.

A recent study, supported by HarvestPlus, looked at absorption of zinc from zinc-biofortified wheat to see if it was greater than from nonbiofortifed wheat, when fed to adult women as their primary food source.

The researchers found that there was substantial increase in intake of bioavailable zinc from the zinc-biofortified wheat. Under the scenario presented, 300g wheat flour could provide about two-thirds the physiological zinc requirements of adult women.

This finding is especially important in countries where people rely heavily on wheat for their daily bread and can not afford more nutritious, but also more expensive, foods. In this context, biofortified wheat could provide a significant portion of the daily zinc requirements for women.

This study was published in Journal of Nutrition. Please see HarvestPlus Research Abstract 9 for a summary of the full findings of this study. Also learn more about zinc deficiency and our wheat strategy.