During the Senate deliberation on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has reiterated his call to address the issue of stunting among Filipino children.
The senator said that if a child experiences stunting, the availability of scholarships, welfare interventions, and employment opportunities may be rendered ineffective, as the child is already impacted and vulnerable to illnesses.
Many of today’s stunted children, he surmised, would be the future people with disabilities. “The more that we take care of the stunting now, the less we have to spend on the interventions later on,” Cayetano pointed out.
Recent research indicates that one in two pre-school children from the lowest 20% of the population in the country experience stunting, meaning they are significantly shorter than the international standards for their age and height.
In contrast, only one in 10 preschool children from the wealthiest 20% of the population are affected by stunting. “This shocking statistic has remained static over at least the past fifteen years,” said Dr. Howarth E. Bouis, an American economist whose work has focused on agriculture, nutrition outcomes, and reducing micronutrient malnutrition, also known as hidden hunger.
Dr. Bouis established and previously directed HarvestPlus, a global non-profit initiative dedicated to agricultural research. In 2016, Bouis received the World Food Prize in acknowledgment of his groundbreaking efforts in the field of biofortification.
Health experts claim stunting hinders growth and development in children, often caused by persistent undernutrition, insufficient healthcare, and unfavorable living environments. It can result in both physical and cognitive impairments, which may adversely impact overall health and future opportunities in adulthood.
Doctors say timely intervention through adequate nutrition, healthcare, and improved sanitation is essential to avert and mitigate the detrimental consequences of stunting on a child’s growth and long-term well-being.
Studies have shown that stunting occurs among pre-school children and mothers in most poor countries due to key missing minerals in their diets. The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, cites iron, zinc, vitamin A, and folate as the missing minerals.
One potential remedy is Malusog Rice, commonly referred to as Golden Rice, which is a novel variety of rice enriched with a substantial quantity of beta carotene in its grains. This beta carotene is akin to that found in orange-colored fruits and vegetables.
Malusog Rice is designed to complement existing strategies aimed at combating vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Given that rice is extensively cultivated and consumed, it possesses a distinctive capability to benefit a large population, particularly those lacking consistent access to or the means to purchase alternative sources of vitamin A.
Malusog Rice was conceived by Professor Ingo Potrykus, formerly associated with the Institute for Plant Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Professor Peter Beyer from the University of Freiburg in Germany.
The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) says the development of this rice variety employed genetic engineering techniques, a contemporary biotechnological approach that facilitates the transfer of specific traits between organisms by incorporating the gene responsible for the desired characteristic.
The innovative method was necessitated by the inability of global surveys of rice varieties to identify any that naturally contained beta carotene, rendering traditional breeding methods ineffective for the creation of Malusog Rice.
PhilRice says the Malusog Rice was originally created by incorporating genes from a daffodil and a common soil bacterium. Later on, an improved variant of Malusog Rice was produced by utilizing a gene from corn. This enhanced version contains twenty times the amount of beta carotene compared to its predecessor.
In 2004, the technology behind Malusog Rice was donated to the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, which facilitated its distribution to developing nations where vitamin A deficiency is widespread, including the Philippines.
Now, here’s good news. A report from Dr. Bouis states that high zinc and high iron will be added to Malusog Rice. “The research is already done,” he said. “The dossier to de-regulate zinc and iron events is ready for submission. Crosses into high-yielding backgrounds are already advanced in confined field trials.”
That makes Malusog Rice as “three-in-one” rice. It will be sold for the same price as regular white rice, Dr. Bouis said.
Mothers belonging to low-income groups who buy and serve their families ‘three-in-one’ Malusog Rice, replacing regular white rice on a one-for-one basis without incurring additional expenses to the family food budget.
According to Dr. Bouis, doing so will double the family’s vitamin A consumption, more than double their family’s zinc consumption, and increase their family’s iron intake by 25%.
“This powerful new technology, available to all but particularly beneficial for the poor, demonstrates the Philippine government’s long-term commitment and investment in assisting the less fortunate Filipinos to improve their health and cognition,” Dr. Bouis urged.
“It would be an unspeakable travesty not to allow the commercial development of this new technology,” he added.
