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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

Where we work

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Innovation Policy and Scaling

Erick Boy

Chief Nutritionist, HarvestPlus

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Erick Boy

Bio

Erick Boy is the chief nutritionist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As head of nutrition for the HarvestPlus Program since 2008, he has led research that has generated scientific evidence on biofortified staple crops as efficacious and effective interventions to help address iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Major contributions to the global nutrition community from the HarvestPlus research portfolio during his tenure include the first publications on the impact of biofortification as a dietary intervention to improve nutritional status and aspects of health causally associated with iron, vitamin A, and zinc. Currently, his main area of research is exploring the association between zinc and chronic noncommunicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Prior to joining HarvestPlus, Erick worked for 10 years at the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP/PAHO), where his research focused on the prevention of low birth weight and the control of iodine and iron deficiencies. The demonstration of the impact of indoor biofuel smoke on birth weight was a memorable contribution during this phase of his career.

At the Micronutrient Initiative (1999-2008), Erick directed the iron and zinc research program, and managed Latin American projects and the Global Vitamin A Supplementation Procurement Project. He was instrumental in the introduction of zinc supplements for the treatment of diarrhea and multiple micronutrient powders to treat anemia in several Latin American countries. Erick holds a medical degree from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and a master’s and doctoral degree in human nutrition from the University of California at Davis.

Publications

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Publications

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Book Chapter

Plant-source foods: Leveraging crops for nutrition and healthy diets

2024Boy, Erick; Brouwer, Inge D.; Foley, Jennifer; Palacios, Natalia; Scott, Samuel P.; Taleon, Victor
Details

Plant-source foods: Leveraging crops for nutrition and healthy diets

Addressing the urgent need for food systems to support sustainable healthy diets will require a major improvement in the availability of and access to affordable, nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in low- and middle-income countries, along with increased consumer demand for healthy diets. Plant-source foods are key components of sustainable healthy diets. This chapter examines food crops that could be leveraged to improve health outcomes, describes production systems and their role in providing populations access to highly nutritious crops, and presents examples of evidence-based technologies that improve the nutritional content of crops, especially for vulnerable populations.

Year published

2024

Authors

Boy, Erick; Brouwer, Inge D.; Foley, Jennifer; Palacios, Natalia; Scott, Samuel P.; Taleon, Victor

Citation

Boy, Erick; Brouwer, Inge D.; Foley, Jennifer; Palacios, Natalia; Scott, Samuel P.; and Taleon, Victor. 2024. Plant-source foods: Leveraging crops for nutrition and healthy diets. In Global food policy report 2024: Food systems for healthy diets and nutrition. Chapter 6, Pp. 54-61. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141888

Keywords

Nutrition; Healthy Diets; Food Crops; Food Consumption; Biofortification; Food Processing

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Journal Article

Preventing and controlling zinc deficiency across the life course: A call to action

2024Lowe, Nicola M.; Hall, Andrew G.; Broadley, Martin R.; Foley, Jennifer; Boy, Erick; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
Details

Preventing and controlling zinc deficiency across the life course: A call to action

Through diverse roles, zinc determines a greater number of critical life functions than any other single micronutrient. Beyond the well-recognized importance of zinc for child growth and resistance to infections, zinc has numerous specific roles covering the regulation of glucose metabolism, and growing evidence links zinc deficiency with increased risk of diabetes and cardiometabolic disorders. Zinc nutriture is thus vitally important to health across the life course. Zinc deficiency is also one of the most common forms of micronutrient malnutrition globally. A clearer estimate of the burden of health disparity attributable to zinc deficiency in adulthood and later life emerges when accounting for its contribution to global elevated fasting blood glucose and related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Yet progress attenuating its prevalence has been limited due, in part, to the lack of sensitive and specific methods to assess human zinc status. This narrative review covers recent developments in our understanding of zinc’s role in health; the impact of the changing climate and global context on zinc intake; novel functional biomarkers showing promise for monitoring population-level interventions; and solutions for improving population zinc intake. It aims to spur on implementation of evidence-based interventions for preventing and controlling zinc deficiency across the life course. Increasing zinc intake and combatting global zinc deficiency requires context-specific strategies and a combination of complementary, evidence-based interventions including supplementation, food fortification, and food and agricultural solutions such as biofortification, alongside efforts to improve zinc bioavailability. Enhancing dietary zinc content and bioavailability through zinc biofortification is an inclusive nutrition solution that can benefit the most vulnerable individuals and populations affected by inadequate diets to the greatest extent.

Year published

2024

Authors

Lowe, Nicola M.; Hall, Andrew G.; Broadley, Martin R.; Foley, Jennifer; Boy, Erick; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.

Citation

Lowe, Nicola M.; Hall, Andrew G.; Broadley, Martin R.; Foley, Jennifer; Boy, Erick; and Bhutta, Zulfiqar A. 2024. Preventing and controlling zinc deficiency across the life course: A call to action. Advances in Nutrition 15(3): 100181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100181

Keywords

Zinc; Micronutrient Deficiencies; Deficiency Diseases; Biofortification; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100181 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of biofortified food and food products: Current evidence

2024
Huey, Samantha L.; Mehta, Neel H.; Konieczynski, Elsa M.; Bhargava, Arini; Friesen, Valerie M.; Boy, Erick; Krisher, Jesse T.; Mbuya, Mduduzi; Monterrosa, Eva C.; Nyangaresi, Annette M.
…more Mehta, Saurabh
Details

Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of biofortified food and food products: Current evidence

Biofortification increases micronutrient content in staple crops through conventional breeding, agronomic methods, or genetic engineering. Bioaccessibility is a prerequisite for a nutrient to fulfill a biological function, e.g., to be bioavailable. The objective of this systematic review is to examine the bioavailability (and bioaccessibility as a proxy via in vitro and animal models) of the target micronutrients enriched in conventionally biofortified crops that have undergone post-harvest storage and/or processing, which has not been systematically reviewed previously, to our knowledge. We searched for articles indexed in MEDLINE, Agricola, AgEcon, and Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International databases, organizational websites, and hand-searched studies’ reference lists to identify 18 studies reporting on bioaccessibility and 58 studies on bioavailability. Conventionally bred biofortified crops overall had higher bioaccessibility and bioavailability than their conventional counterparts, which generally provide more absorbed micronutrient on a fixed ration basis. However, these estimates depended on exact cultivar, processing method, context (crop measured alone or as part of a composite meal), and experimental method used. Measuring bioaccessibility and bioavailability of target micronutrients in biofortified and conventional foods is critical to optimize nutrient availability and absorption, ultimately to improve programs targeting micronutrient deficiency.

Year published

2024

Authors

Huey, Samantha L.; Mehta, Neel H.; Konieczynski, Elsa M.; Bhargava, Arini; Friesen, Valerie M.; Boy, Erick; Krisher, Jesse T.; Mbuya, Mduduzi; Monterrosa, Eva C.; Nyangaresi, Annette M.; Mehta, Saurabh

Citation

Huey, Samantha L.; Mehta, Neel H.; Konieczynski, Elsa M.; Bhargava, Arini; Friesen, Valerie M.; Boy, Erick; et al. 2024. Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of biofortified food and food products: Current evidence. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 64(14): 4500-4522. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2022.2142762

Keywords

Biofortification; Micronutrients; Staple Crops; Breeding; Agronomic Practices; Genetic Engineering; Bioavailability; Literature Reviews; Iron; Vitamin a; Zinc

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2022.2142762 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Addressing the global, life-long health impacts of zinc deficiency: A call to action
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 25, 2024

Addressing the global, life-long health impacts of zinc deficiency: A call to action

By Nicola M. Lowe, Andrew G. Hall, Martin R. Broadley, Jen Foley, Erick Boy, and Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

What an array of studies shows about a key nutritional challenge

Zinc study suggests possible role for biofortification in addressing non-communicable diseases
IFPRI Blog
 | 
August 12, 2020

Zinc study suggests possible role for biofortification in addressing non-communicable diseases

By Laura Pompano, Erick Boy, and Jen Foley

Focusing on the multiple, overlapping health impacts of the double burden of malnutrition.

Micronutrient status in the DR Congo: What to do when diet and blood measurements do and don’t align
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 29, 2020

Micronutrient status in the DR Congo: What to do when diet and blood measurements do and don’t align

By Kristina Michaux and Erick Boy

Looking at the varying prevalence of zinc and vitamin A deficiencies among women and children.

Events

Micronutrient Forum: 6th Global Conference
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

October 16 to 20, 2023

Micronutrient Forum: 6th Global Conference

Hybrid Conference: October 16, 2023 – 8:30 AM to October 20, 2023 – 5:00 PM CEST. IFPRI is pleased to participate in this year’s Micronutrient Forum 6th Global Conference, being held at the World Forum in The Hague October 16–20, with a focus on “Nutrition for Resilience (N4R).

News

August 10, 2018 | In the News

The Bajra that can fight India’s iron deficiency problem (The Print)

India’s The Print published a news story on the effectiveness of iron biofortified pearl millet in reducing iron deficiency among the Indian adolescents. The article, based on a recent study by IFPRI’s Samuel Scott and Harvest Plus’ Erick Boy, highlighted how consumption of biofortified pearl millet improves learning and mental abilities. The article reached nearly […]