Micronutrition Malnutrition – The hidden Hunger



Thursday, 16. October 2014 | 14:45 Uhr

Speaker

Maria Andersson

Organisation

ETH Zurich

Reporting

At the Academia Engelberg Foundation’s 13th Dialogue on Science, Dr. Maria Andersson, Senior Scientist, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, spoke about the fact that the quality of food is just as important as the optimum quantity of nutrition. Andersson pointed to the issue of hidden hunger: „We often lack important nutrients even though we have enough food.” Iron, zinc, vitamin A, folic acid, and iodine deficiencies are particularly often identified.

People suffering from hidden hunger feed themselves based on crop. While crop-based food is rich in calories, it does not contain enough micro-nutrients. Poverty or access to nutritious food is among the biggest challenges in low-income countries. Volatile prices on the global food market also disrupt eating habits in more prosperous countries and promote the consumption of less expensive staple foods that are low on micro-nutrients. For example, in the United States a burger costs less than a mixed salad.

Micro-nutrient deficiencies during pregnancy and early childhood can lead to physical and mental impairment.
Intervention strategies like food-enriching are already available today. However, the large-scale implementation and sustainability of micro-nutrient intervention programs remain a challenge.

You can watch Maria Andersson’s entire presentation on video.

Maria Andersson

2012 – present Senior scientist, Laboratory of Human Nutrition, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

2010 – 2012 Post-doctoral fellow, Laboratory of Human Nutrition, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

2005 – 2010 PhD thesis, Laboratory of Human Nutrition, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Title: Impact evaluation of food fortification with iron in school children and women of reproductive age

2005 – 2007 Visiting researcher within the Ph.D. program, Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research, St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India

2005 Postgraduate studies in biostatistics and epidemiology, School of Public Health, Berkeley, University of California Berkeley, CA, USA

2001 – 2004 Technical officer, Micronutrient Unit, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

1999 – 2000 Research fellow, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden

1998 Research fellow, The Unit for Preventive Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

1994 – 1999 MSc in Human Nutrition, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

1993 – 1994 Music diploma, Betel Music Academy, Stockholm, Sweden

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