‘Rising CO2 levels leading to zinc deficiency in diet’

NEW DELHI: Rising carbon dioxide levels in the air is causing zinc deficiency in Indian crops thus impacting nutritional value of food consumed by humans. The national rates of inadequate zinc intake has increased from 17% to 25% between 1983 and 2012 increasing risk of diseases like malaria, diarrhoeal afflictions and pneumonia, particularly in children, a new study by the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health says.
Apart from rising CO2 emissions, changing diets and an aging population are also seen as factors responsible for increasing zinc deficiency. The study shows highest rates of inadequate intake are concentrated mainly in southern and north-eastern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya where diets are more rice-dominated. Rice is poor in zinc, aggravating zinc inadequacy in diets of people who rely heavily upon it.
“Rising CO2 levels in the coming decades could accelerate this trend. National grain fortification programmes, increased dietary diversity, biofortified crops, and reduced CO2 emissions could all make a difference to slow or reverse the course,” the observations made on the study said.
The presence of zinc plays a critical role in human immune systems and lack of it increases vulnerability to illnesses listed by the study. Findings of the study show urban populations overall, and wealthier urban groups in particular, also have higher rates of inadequate zinc intake due to a higher proportion of calorie-rich and nutrient-poor fats and sugars in their diet.
Indian diets have been evolving, losing coarse grains such as millet and sorghum and adding wheat, animal products, fruits and vegetables. In total, these changes have offset each other to keep the average per-person intake remarkably constant. However, the aging of the population has caused the zinc requirement for the average Indian to increase by 5%, because adults need more zinc than children.
Many individual or governmental actions have the potential to reverse this course: national-level grain fortification programmes, encouraging dietary diversity toward richer sources of zinc or biofortifying major crops by choosing or creating plant varieties with higher zinc content than currently available. Finally, addressing rising global CO2 levels through ongoing and sustained efforts could help to avert future deepening of this unresolved public health issue, the study said.
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