You can t afford a nutritious diet, says Stoltzfus. One project designed to increase vitamin A consumption among the poor in northeast Thailand showed positive results. The project promoted vitamin A-rich foods as something used by loving and caring mothers, focusing on a locally grown vegetable ivy gourd rich in vitamin A that people could cultivate themselves. It s not that we were interested in promoting only one green vegetable, says Suttilak Smitisiri of the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Thailand. We promoted the ivy gourd as representing other green vegetables.
Most projects seeking to change diets, however, end with people s returning to their old ways.
Dietary approaches have worked in only limited settings, says Mannar of the Micronutrient Initiative. They require lots of inputs and education. When they are scaled up, they rarely work, so they tend not to be sustainable. Putting the Nutrients in Staple Crops One new strategy for supplying micronutrients to the poor in developing countries involves making the staple foods they eat more nutritious by using conventional plant breeding and biotechnology. The greatest potential for improving nutrition status on a wide scale probably involves rice, which is a staple for billions of people in Asia.