The INOV8 blog tracks the latest news and trends in technology and innovation throughout the world
How do we support good health for all?
That was the question posed Friday by John Peters, PhD, of Proctor & Gamble’s R&D division. Peters, a member of the Arkansas Bioscience Institute‘s board of advisors, was the keynote speaker at ABI’s Fall Research Symposium held at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. ABI is an IA research partner.
(Over the weekend, ABI broke ground on its new innovation center at ASU.)
Peters posed the question under the backdrop of data from the World Health Organization that indicates almost as many people worldwide suffer from overnutrition (more than 1.5 billion) as from undernutrition (2 billion).
In other words, there are almost as many obese people in the world as there are anemic people. Which, I suppose, makes it more or less official — we are now the Planet of Laurel and Hardy.
We all know a culture of Cheetohs and double Quarter Pounders has permeated the West (double Quarter Pounders…mmmmmmmm), but Peters noted that micronutrient deficiency affects roughly 40 percent of the folks in developing counties. He specifically addressed iron deficiency (No. 1 nutrition problem worldwide), vitamin A deficiency (No. 1 cause of preventable blindness), and iodine deficiency (No. 1 cause of preventable mental retardation).
A few years back, Proctor & Gamble tried to fix these problems. It developed and tested a micronutrient-fortified powdered drink for kids called NutriStar. It was tested on kids in the Phillipines and Tanzania, and it “scored” through the roof with notable increases in mental ability and physical fitness.
What did P&G learn? Peters said it learned that the need was clear, the benefit was measurable and that behavioral adoption wasn’t a barrier — kids loved the product.
BUT…
P&G couldn’t identify a sustainable model that could pay its own way; as a public company, its commitment is to its shareholders, which limits its charity; and working with non-profit and government organizations proved to be just as difficult as finding a successful business model.
BUT…
That doesn’t mean P&G gave up on charity. It is focusing on something it can do, and do well. The company has established a goal is to provide 3.5 billion liters of purified water by 2012 through its PUR water purifier.
Check back with INOV8 tomorrow for more on Peters’ presentation, “Health Promotion in the 21st Century: Challenges and Choices.” Peters details the multiple causes behind our collective eating disorder and its effect on worldwide health.
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