PATH’s manufactured “grain” adds nutrients to rice

PATH has found a way to increase nutrients in the staple food of more than half of the world’s population—and it doesn’t require people to change their purchasing and cooking habits. In fact, when blended with rice and cooked like usual, the Ultra Rice® grains look so much like white rice, it’s hard to tell they are there.

Every bite counts

Micronutrient deficiencies threaten the health, development, and productivity of millions of people worldwide. According to UNICEF and the Micronutrient Initiative, each year:

• Severe iron deficiency anemia results in the death of more than 60,000 young women during pregnancy and childbirth. In the developing world, iron deficiency in 6- to 24-month-olds may impair the mental development of the 40 to 60 percent of children who suffer from it.
• Vitamin A deficiency compromises the immune systems of approximately 40 percent of children under five and causes about 1,000,000 deaths in the developing world.
• Folic acid deficiency is responsible for approximately 200,000 severe birth defects in 80 developing countries.
• Mild to moderate zinc deficiency affects more than a third of people worldwide and compromises growth and immune function in children.

One approach to alleviating malnutrition is fortifying staple foods with micronutrients. On a large scale, food fortification can be cost-effective and sustainable, and it allows people to get more nutritional value from the food they already eat.

To bring fortification to vulnerable rice-consuming communities, PATH developed a manufactured “grain” that can be mixed with rice to provide nutrients the local diet may lack.

Inside the Ultra Rice technology

Ultra Rice grains resemble natural milled rice grains in size, shape, and color, but they are made from rice flour, selected micronutrients, and nutrient-protecting ingredients that are combined and extruded through a rice-shaped mold. When the Ultra Rice grains are blended with white rice—usually in a ratio of about 1 to 100—the result is nearly identical to unfortified rice in smell, taste, and texture.

The technology is ingenious in its ability to protect micronutrients within the manufactured grain. In addition to preventing them from being rinsed away, the Ultra Rice grains preserve sensitive micronutrients from degradation during storage.

The Ultra Rice technology can be adapted to contain just the nutrients a population needs—and to mimic the look of the local rice. Its versatility allows grains that look like the short-grained rice of China to carry one combination of vitamins and minerals, while grains resembling the longer, thinner rice in Brazil deliver a completely different combination of micronutrients.

In Colombia, two versions have been developed. One carries vitamin A; the other carries thiamin, folic acid, and zinc. An iron-bearing formula is expected to hit the commercial market in 2008.

From the factory to the bowl

To reach nutritionally vulnerable populations, PATH licenses the Ultra Rice manufacturing technology to selected commercial partners. Currently, PATH has funding to transfer the technology at no cost to any companies that are interested in Brazil, China, Colombia, and India. Market-driven commercial production ultimately should help support long-term social distribution to populations in need.

PATH has successfully introduced the Ultra Rice technology to two countries in South America—in Colombia it has been reaching 66,000 poor school children a day—and has made substantial progress in China and India. Read more about our progress!

There are literally billions of rice consumers in the world who need the nutritional benefits that Ultra Rice® products can deliver at low cost. Having developed the technology, we are now committed to making it widely available.

Ultra Rice is a registered trademark of Bon Dente International, Inc. in the United States.

Photo: Carib Nelson.