UNPROCESSED VERSUS PROCESSED FOOD - MICRONUTRIENTS DILEMMA.

Human diets have proportionally altered throughout centuries depending mostly on food access (basically staple crops) and available conservation practices (processing methods). The driving forces were decidedly the amounts of harvested crops biomass than the nutritive values (organic and mineral components), since agricultural practices did not favor the so-called mineral dilution effect. The dynamic growth of world population has induced huge application of fertilizers, which in turn boosted biomass production and consequently, led to the emergence of mineral dilution. The greatest impact has been recorded on micronutrients, and health concerns are alarming and being identified as epidemiological challenges. This conceptual résumé "Unprocessed versus Processed Food - Micronutrients Dilemma" outlines the real tasks we are facing at several levels, among others i) defining micronutrients, ii) methods of measuring the intakes, iii) agricultural practices and micronutrient phytoavailability, iv) staple crops and micronutrient concentrations, v) biofortification and meeting nutritional requirements, vi) food processing and micronutrient bioavailability, vii) food canning and quality. The slogan "Good nutrition for sustainable development" is not longer applicable for developing countries only. It is becoming a transboundary concern like for iodine (I), (salt iodization) and selenium (Se), simultaneously with iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) worldwide deficiencies. Two human groups are directly targeted: children and pregnant woman, irrespective of geographical origin. Hence the endeavor for facing micronutrient "Dilemma" should run via consumption of both unprocessed and processed food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]