Eyed as cure of iron-deficiency anemia

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna - With the help of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in this town, the ANGAT Laguna Foundation Inc. (ALFI) has started harvesting variety, now known as the "Olivarez Rice', which aims to address the problem of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) in the country.

Laguna Vice Gov. Edwin Olivarez, founding chairman of ALFI, said the first harvest last Aug. 19 in Santa Maria town "was very encouraging, considering that the 10-kilo seeds yielded 40 cavans or a minimum of 130 cavans per hectare in our pilot farms in the three cities and 27 towns of Laguna."

"Samples of first harvested iron-rich palay grains from all pilot farms in Laguna will be brought to the IRRI station Australia for further test and evaluation to determine their iron contents," the vice governor said.

"ANGAT Laguna Foundation is the first entity in the Philippines that embarked on the widespread propagation of the bio-fortified iron-rich rice variety," said Olivarez. He also said that producing rice varieties that "fortify" themselves and concentrate micronutrients in their edible portions promises to be an inexpensive and sustainable approach to combating hidden hunger."

"Washing of bio-fortified rice before cooking will not remove its iron contents because its iron nutrients are already inbred and embedded in the grains itself," Olivarez said.

The IRRI, through cross breeding of high yielding variety of IR72 and high-iron, tall traditional variety Zawa Bonday of India, developed IR68144-2B-2-2-3-1, an improved line with high concentration of grain iron about 21 mg/kg in brown rice which is now referred to as iron-rich or bio-fortified rice.

In the Philippines, according to a survey in 1998, the iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) affects 56.6 percent of infants, 29.6 percent of preschoolers, 50.6 percent of pregnant women, and 45.7 percent of lactating mothers.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. Ina a study undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003, as many as four to five billion people or 66 to 80 percent of the world's total population may be iron-deficient, and about two billion people or over 30 percent of the world's population are anemic, mainly due to iron deficiency.

The iron-rich rice has high concentration of grain iron (21 mg/kg in brown rice), with iron content of about four or five times that of most commercial rice.