Biotechnology: Can Science Feed the Growing Wold Population

Kameron Duncanson

Assignment #8 International Nutrition

Dr. Chery Smith

Agro 4103

Question #1

1. Geographic location

a. Quality of land

b. fertility

2. Climate/weather patterns

3. Social status

a. Living conditions

4. Food availability

5. Clean drinking water availability

The geographic and topographical location of Bangladesh is one of factors that have an effect of the dietary intake of the Hassan family. The type of soil and the fertility level of the land will directly affect the yields that the Hassan’s will harvest. The climate and weather patterns will allow the family to raise crops on a year round basis but they have a monsoon season that they have to deal with and their fields are subject to flooding so they have to plan their growing of vegetables and rice. The family’s social status is very low, Mr. Hassan works in a village near by and pulls a rickshaw, and this is a profession for the poorest, uneducated men in Bangladesh. The family lives in a one room “hut” that has a thatched roof and a packed earth floor, half of the hut is a kitchen and the other is the sleeping area. The family is of a low social status and has a very low income and they need to be able to grow as much food for themselves as they can and sell what extra crops they can for income. Their food supply is uncertain and depends upon on the success of their crops they grow to be a large part of their food. The family has to go to the local village to get drinking water from the towns well. They have to carry the water in jugs and so they have to make the trek into town just for a clean drink of water.

Question #2

The Hassan family members could be suffering from any nutrient deficiencies and health related problems, from iodine deficiency, iron deficiency, or a vitamin A deficiency. A clue that there is a lack of iodine is the formation of a goiter, which is an enlargement of the thyroid gland. A lack of iron in the diet can be associated with anemic conditions, pale skin and weakness. When a body is starved of vitamin A the body is most affected in the eyes where the retina can hemorrhage and can cause blindness. The family could be affected by any of the previous 3 afflictions, the family doesn’t have a consistent source of food and the family lives in poverty. The lack of meat in the Hassan’s diet could cause them to likely suffer from iron or iodine deficiencies. Every member of the family does a lot of physical labor and they all have higher requirements for protein which contains high amounts or iron.