Vegetables: potential role for nutritional security

Abstract

A burgeoning population, food shortage, less affordability of essential nutrients, and pandemic are the foremost global challenges for lower-to middle-income nations. Lack of proper availability of crucial nutrients leads to hidden hunger, which has become a serious threat under the current scenario and difficult situation for global policymakers, nutritionists, and public health scientists. Minerals (iron, zinc, iodine, and Selenium) and Vitamin A malnutrition are major food-related primary health problems among populations of both developed and developing countries. Vegetables offer an economical and sustainable opportunity to provide micronutrients. They are rich in minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds and thus play a key role in diversifying diets and securing nutritional security. Usually, the availability of most micronutrients in the edible parts of the plants is lower than required. Therefore, scaling up the nutritional profile of vegetable crops through biofortification can enhance their nourishment power. Biofortification can be achieved through mineral fertilization, breeding, and biotechnological approaches. Several crops have been fortified through the soil and foliar application of fertilizers, thus providing benefits for a limited period. Therefore, breeding for nutrient-rich cultivars using conventional or biotechnological techniques seems to be the most effective strategy to reduce malnutrition.

Keywords:

• Bioactive compounds
• bioavailability
• biofortification
• hidden hunger
• sustainable development goals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.