Currently Skimming:
The Promise of QPM
The Promise of QPM
Pages 35-40
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From page 35... ...
From current evidence, there seem to be no fundamental technical uncertainties still to resolve. In their remarkable research, scientists at the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT)
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From page 36... ...
And QPM should require little or no change in eating habits and almost no modification of the food-supply system. In this, it differs from previous approaches to relieving protein shortages, which usually involved the introduction of exotic legumes, algae, or food supplements that demanded substantial changes in personal eating habits or national food supply.
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From page 37... ...
A principal contributory factor is the mother's own low level of nutrition, and the use of QPM during pregnancy could raise levels of child survival. Low birth weight is associated with 30-40 percent of the millions of infant deaths in the developing world.
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From page 38... ...
Indeed, even countries with praiseworthy commitments to the poor have been forced to stop funding social services, dismiss schoolteachers, reduce food subsidies for pregnant mothers and children, close clinics, and halt immunization programs for lack of funds, foods, fuel, or spare parts. It should be understood that QPM's benefits do not merely double the level of effective maize protein.
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From page 39... ...
4 Because conventional maize and QPM have roughly equal contents of protein, carbohydrate, and fat, their formation requires the same amount of sunlight. It costs the maize plant virtually no additional photosynthetic energy to produce lysine and tryptophan than to produce more common amino acids.
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From page 40... ...
It has been produced by the dedicated efforts of a small research team in the face of worldwide abandonment and at low budget. Now is the time for researchers to help assess QPM in the "real world" situation of farmers and malnourished people.
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