Free Rice

This is a fun internet game that kids (and adults) can play to help feed the hungry in the world : - )


www.freerice.com

Re: Free Rice

Somebody's been stumbling!

Re: Free Rice

I'm not sure how good this organization is, haven't done a background check on it.  I know the United Nations has been under the spotlight in the past for questionable behavior, policies and judgement calls. On the other hand, they have some good stuff going on too. I was trying some of the vocabulary questions and sometimes I not only didn't know the word…I didn't know the answer either (now I'm doubly confused. Sounds normal for me!)

Dan

Re: Free Rice

I hate to diss any organization trying to help feed people, but rice is not the answer.

Doctors Without Borders has been advocating and distributing plumpynut (60 Minutes story here), which is a fortified peanut butter with extra vitamins and milk protein. It's literally saving lives that could not have been saved before – best of all, it can be produced locally by the people who need it most.

Because it is so calorie dense, especially when compared to rice, it takes up much less space to store, costs less to make, and can be stored for much longer without fear of it going bad.

This may be the single greatest breakthrough in feeding the hungry, especially malnourished children. Lots of research supports the idea that increased protein and healthy fats in the diets of these children has a powerful impact on intelligence, with as much as a 20 point increase over those who do not get adequate protein and fats.

The body needs fats and proteins (plumpynut), but it does not need carbohydrates (rice) – in the absence of carbs, the body uses protein and fat to produce ketones, a kind of carbohydrate that the body uses to create glycogen.

The choice seems obvious.

Peace,
Bill

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I forgot to mention that peanut allergies seem not to exist in African nations, so there is no issue with possible allergic reactions.

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I did not know that. This is great. Good news, a better way to feed the undernurished. I wonder why the UN doesn't adopt this. They can put peanuts in the bowl instead of rice grains for the game!

This is what the free rice website says about what they put on the kitchen table:

What do the rations consist of?

The rations themselves can consist of:

• Cereals - wheat, maize, sorghum, rice
  
  
• Pulses - beans, peas
  
  
• Vegetable oil
  
  
• Salt
  
  
• Sugar
  
  
• Cereal blends
  
  
• High Energy biscuits
  
  
• Bread

Re: Free Rice

If you look at that list, it's all carbohydrates. The lugumes have some protein, but it's incomplete and not readily absorbed. The vegetable oil is good, but the lack of protein is a huge issue.

I'm not sure which vitamins (micronutrients) are added to plumpynut, but I would guess it is those that are most needed for health.

The WHO is getting behind plumpynut, so there is hope for wider adoption.

I think part of the reliance on rice has been due to lobbyists pushing rice, not nutritionists saying rice is best (although nutritionists are nortoriously behind the curve on what actually constitutes good nutrition). I know that there were efforts to make rice a staple crop in Africa, but the lack of reliabale water made that idea rather misguided from day one. Plus, who wants to use water to grow rice when people are dying from lack of clean water?

Peanuts, however don't need nearly as much water to be a viable crop, not to mention the greater harvest per acre of land.

Peace,
Bill

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No doubt money and politics has something to do with it…it always does. Then you got to swim against the tide of image and habit to usher in a new and better way. Distribution and supply and demand are of course factors in this. Cost of course. There's probably dozens of logistics and thousands of details that can be hashed out and discussed. You've sold me however.  Rice has been the image of feeding starving nations for a long time. It's a stereotype that must go it sounds like. It's a fun game though : - )

Nameste

Daniel

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Bill,

You've got me thinking about this. We may be both right on this. I am not a doctor, but know about medicine. I don't know the technical details, but consider this.

Like in growth and development, malnutrition and starvation has its levels and stages and depending at what level or stage the sufferer is at will determine how to “treat” or feed the malnutrion. This will include the pace at which you feed them, quantities, what type of food and in what combinations. Does anyone know more about this? I am sure there is information out there in more detail. Anyway, I wouldn't discredit the value of rice in starvation as being worth while (your information on peanut protein is well noted). We are not talking about “normal” strategies of nutrition in the recovery phase.  But , yes we are discussing normal nutrition strategies in the maintenance phase.  I very well could be wrong in this, so I think it needs more deliberation. The literature is out there, someone needs to dig it up to confirm what is the medical treatment for malnutrition and how carefully do you proceed in feeding starvation.

Is it possible to retool starvation strategies with peanut protein mixed with milk, etc (Plumpynut). If the doctors say its working miracles then this is bright news. The U.N. should follow suit and ditch the rice. Again, is that a good idea? I don't know, we need an unbiased expert who won't fudge the facts due to some hidden agenda.

Daniel

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I think in the situations where plumpynut is being used, the situation is critical. We're not talking recovery or maintenance, we're talking on the edge of death. In the 60 Minutes segment, they showed a child who was nothing but skin and bones. After several days of plumpynut the kid was up and walking around and looked marginally healthy.

The key is not the peanut protein, although that helps, it's that a serving of peanut butter has over 200 calories. These kids are fed a whole bottle a day, probably over 3,000 total calories, most of which is monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Add in the peanut protein, the milk protein, and the vitamins and you have a virtual superfood.

Rice would seem to have the most value as a maintenance food for those who are healthy, but even then the issue is a lack of adequate protein. People do not need carbs like rice, the body can make carbs from fats and proteins. But the body can't manufacture fats and proteins from carbs – and both of these macronutrients are crucial to the health of every cell in our bodies.

Let's take an evolutionary look at this. Our biology has changed little in 200,000 years. Early humans ate meat, some fruits, berries and tubers, and that's about it. Almost no real carbohydrates as we think of them. This is how our bodies were designed to function. Plumpynut is pretty close, nutritionally, to being the same thing.

Whatever we do, we should help them to become self-sufficient in their food production. In the end, that is the only viable option.

Peace,
Bill

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Bill,

A lot of good will emerge from this thread. I am going to email this information to the free rice website and also attempt to call them as well regarding this new food resource that has been developed and ask them why they are still using outdated strategies such as rice. The other benefit from this whole thing is that we get to improve our vocabulary.

Daniel

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I think you are referring to re feeding programmes Dan, and you are right. When there is severe malnutrition re-feeding has to proceed very slowly, dense nutrients aren't the answer.
However what was said about storage and distribution of the dense foodstuff makes it sound like a good product for food distribution programmes, which prevent malnutrition setting in.
As usual the right answer is  “it depends on the circumstances”

Liz

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I wrote trhe UN World Food Programme in Rome about the issues we have discussed here and this was their reply:

Hi Daniel,

Sorry, I am in Bangladesh helping out with our relief operation so I don't have time to give as detailed response as I'd like to your interesting question right now, but what Natalie says is correct, where our operations have nutritional objectives, as they always do in emergency settings, we give more than just one staple–where people are completely dependent on food we often give 5-6 different foods. Adding to what your friend says below, cultural preferences play a very important role in terms of what people will eat and in turn what commodities we give…if they don't eat the foods we give, that food effectively has no nutritional value. Here in Bangladesh and much of South Asia, rice is often equated with 'food,' despite being nutritionally incomplete in itself…if we were to give maize here they would feed it to animals, yet in some parts of Africa they would be very disappointed if we gave them rice instead of maize…

Plumpy nut has an essential role to play in treating child malnutrition and potentially feeding young children, but even experts from WHO would tell you that is not a complete solution to all forms of malnutrition in all settings either…it's great for treating severe acute malnutrition and has revolutionized that aspect of emergency programmes, but it's not something that all members of a household can eat day in day out as a meal…it looks kind of like peanut butter, is an unfamiliar commodity to them, etc.

Plumpy nut has also created a lot of discussion about what other similar commodities could be created for treating moderate malnutrition, stunting, and micronutrient malnutrition. Our approach now in terms of research and development is to put together a range of tools (food commodities) that we can use in different settings to combat different forms of malnutrition.

If you'd like to learn more about the process of ration planning for general food distributions this link might be interesting: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/a83743.pdf

And you might also be interested in a paper that I helped write which talks about the importance of nutrition in food programmes in emergency settings:http://nutrition.tufts.edu/docs/pdf/fpan/wp32-micronutrients_in_emergencies.pdf

best regards,
Andrew Thorne-Lyman
WFP Rome

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Thanks, Daniel! I love that you put your words into action.
Liz

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I second Liz's statement – that was excellent.

I really appreciate that you followed up with them, and that they were quick with a response – very fluffy on both ends.

Well done,
Bill

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Much kudos on following up on this, Daniel.  :)  Verily it rocketh.

This could be the seed of a good blog entry for Integral News and Views, btw - contact me via PM if you're interested in working on something along those lines.  There's definite integral fodder here, e.g. the statment from the UN letter, ”cultural preferences play a very important role in terms of what people will eat and in turn what commodities we give…if they don't eat the foods we give, that food effectively has no nutritional value.”  I love how that highlights the interplay of cultural factors with the physical characteristics of food.

cheers
arthur

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Yes, well done Daniel for getting these people to engage - and provide some interesting
answers. Superb! good to see someone on a mission to get to the nitty gritty.

Love
Lisa

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Hi Dan

I'm both excited you followed this through and got such quick and sensible (and sensitive) feedback.

Integral activism, gotta love it, beats the hell out of contemplating one's navel on a mountain top:-)

Hugs
Liz

Re: Free Rice

Thanks folks! Everyone here contributed to this happening. Looks like we made an integral dent in helping transform world hunger.

Here is the original message:

Dear World Food Programe,

Do you have an answer for me as to why your organization has chosen the foods it has?

Thank you