and long-lasting harmful consequences, such as reduced school performance and increased disease risks. For the study, researchers from the Stanford University in the US analysed health data from nearly 300,000 children and one million women across India with over 27 million soil tests drawn from a nationwide soil health programme.
The study is the first large-scale study to examine the association between children’s nutritional status or health outcomes and soil mineral availability in India. It shows that adding
to farmland soil could help prevent conditions associated with long-lasting harmful consequences. “Our results add to a growing body of literature suggesting that interventions like micronutrient-enriched fertilizers may have a positive effect on health,” said lead author Claire Morton, an undergraduate in mathematics and computational science at Stanford.
“This doesn’t prove that those interventions would be cost-effective for India, but it’s an exciting indication that they are worth testing,” Morton added. As a result, the researchers suggest that the potential benefits of using zinc-enriched fertilizers as health interventions deserves more consideration in India specifically and perhaps more generally.
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“We’re not saying that geography is destiny, but soils really do seem to play a role in shaping child health,” said David Lobell, professor of Earth system science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. “Even if this is only a small role, understanding it could help to identify better approaches to solving child stunting in India, which is one of the single biggest and long standing challenges in global food security.”
Reference :
- Soil micronutrients linked to human health in India – (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-39084-8)
Source: IANS
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