By Dr. David Fleming, vice president, Public Health Impact, PATH

The world faces a triple burden of malnutrition. Acute and chronic undernutrition contribute to the deaths of some 3 million children each year. More than 2 billion people suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which compromise immune systems and physical and cognitive development. And now obesity is contributing to a host of health problems, from diabetes to heart disease.

In contrast to many other health-related issues, malnutrition is 100 percent preventable. And solutions to address it don’t lie only—or even primarily—with the health care system. Many people don’t have access to doctors, but everybody eats, and most people get their food through the private sector. As we consider how to solve the problems of under- and overnutrition, we need to engage those who are most integrally related to nutrition—the food and agriculture industries. By partnering with the global health sector, these industries have the opportunity to simultaneously develop the innovations needed to help solve these problems while growing their bottom line.



What does innovation in nutrition look like? Here’s an example we all know: adding iodine to salt, which has proven to be one of the simplest and most cost-effective methods of improving health. Notably, the salt industry has played an indispensable role in increasing global access to iodized salt from just 20 percent to more than 70 percent.

Iodized salt is a model for breakthrough innovation in nutrition and health, and it offers three lessons: the solution must reach everyone in a community; it should involve the private sector; and it should be built into the food system, in other words—it is not a health solution per-se, but it has health benefits.

By adhering to these three takeaways, PATH and our partners have achieved noteworthy results. Last year, Brazilians discovered "vitamin rice" on store shelves. It features an innovative fortification technology developed by PATH that provides a boost of vitamins and minerals. Already, more than 2 million Brazilians have been reached.

Rice is the staple food of nearly half the world's population, and rice fortification is good both for children and for businesses in the countries where it’s introduced. In India, PATH licensed the technology to one of the country’s largest food-processing companies, Usher Agro Limited, for free in exchange for providing it at a preferential price to public-sector programs, such as school-feeding programs. The company will sell the product at a profit both domestically and internationally, ensuring availability and affordability.

We need many more innovations in nutrition that will help people get the right food, with the right nutrients, and ensure that their bodies are equipped to absorb what they eat. These opportunities include:
 

• Novel ways to improve the quality and diversity of people’s diets, including increasing animal protein, fruits, and vegetables in the diets of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women—at an affordable price in an environmentally sustainable way.
• New approaches that support healthy gut micro-organisms in young children, recognizing the role that these beneficial micro-organisms play in the body’s ability to absorb nutrients.
• Leveraging low-cost technologies and methodologies to empower communities to adopt healthy behaviors—because ultimately nutrition is in their hands.
   

Just like fortified foods, these innovations could change the lives of massive numbers of people. They also point to a vital role for the food and agriculture industries and a great opportunity for stronger collaboration across sectors.