This 11th edition of the book Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, featuring the work of more than 190 expert authors and divided into five parts, fully explains and encapsulates the fundamentals of nutrition and its role in contemporary society, from mastering the basic science of nutrient metabolism and function to applying nutritional concepts to combat human disease. Part I comprehensively covers specific dietary components, including major dietary constituents, minerals, vitamins and other Other CABI sites 

Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease

Micronutrient malnutrition, the so-calied hidden hunger, affects more than one-half of the world's population, especially women and preschool children in developing countries. Despite past progress in controlling micronutrient decencies through supplementation and food fortification, new approaches are needed to expand the reach of food-based interventions. Biofortification a new approach that relies on conventional plant breeding and modern biotechnology to increase the micronutrient density of staple crops, holds great promis for improving the nutritional status and health of poor populations in both rural and urban areas of the developing world. HarvestPlus, a research program implemented with the international research institutes of the CGIAR, targets a multitude of crops that are a regular part of the slaple-based diets of the por and breeds them to be rich in iron, zinc, and provitamin A. This paper emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary research and addresses the key research issues and methodological considerations for success. The major activities to be undertaken are broadly grouped into research related to nutrition research and impact analysis, and research considerations for delivering biofortified crops to end-users effectively. The paper places particular emphasis on the activities of the plant breeding and genetics component of this multidisciplinary program. The authors argue that for biofortification to succeed, product profiles developed by plant breeders must be driven by nutrition research and impact objectives and that nutrition research must understand that the probability of success for biofortified crops increases substantially when product concepts consider farmer adoption and, hence, agronomic superiority.

HarvestPlus: Breeding Crops for Better Nutrition

Fruits and vegetables are colorful pigment-containing food sources. Owing to their nutritional benefits and phytochemicals, they are considered as 'functional food ingredients'. Carotenoids are some of the most vital colored phytochemicals, occurring as all-trans and cis-isomers, and accounting for the brilliant colors of a variety of fruits and vegetables. Carotenoids extensively studied in this regard include β-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Coloration of fruits and vegetables depends on their growth maturity, concentration of carotenoid isomers, and food processing methods. This article focuses more on several carotenoids and their isomers present in different fruits and vegetables along with their concentrations. Carotenoids and their geometric isomers also play an important role in protecting cells from oxidation and cellular damages.

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Carotenoids and their isomers: Color pigments in fruits and vegetables

The natural color of foods is due primarily to carotenoids, anthocyanins, betanin and chlorophylls, either as inherent food constituents or as food or feed additives. These compounds have drawn considerable attention in recent years, not because of their coloring properties, but due to their potential health-promoting effects. Their occurrence and levels in foods, along with the factors that influence the composition, have been widely investigated. Processing effects have been actively studied. In spite of the intense search for plant and microbial sources and efforts to increase yield, few natural food color additives have reached the market. Lack of stability is a major deterrent; microencapsulation and nanoencapsulation are being advocated to minimize this problem.

Natural food pigments and colorants

Updated Brazilian database on food carotenoids: Factors affecting carotenoid composition

2 HarvestPlus Technical Monographs are designed to provide a forum for HarvestPlus research outputs. Technical Monographs can be of two kinds: • state-of-the-art reviews that help to establish and define HarvestPlus research questions or • " gold standard " procedures to be followed in HarvestPlus research. HarvestPlus technical monographs are written by recognized experts in the field and are externally peer reviewed prior to publication.

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M. Kimura

Papers

HarvestPlus Handbook for Carotenoid Analysis.