Yvie Morgan
Postgraduate ResearcherDespite global crop productivity meeting current demands, we still see global nutritional disparities, from micronutrient malnutrition to obesity.
These non-communicable diseases could be exacerbated if the world population reaches 9 billion by 2050 as predicted.
Yvie’s interest lies in iron biofortification of cereals and pulses for optimal health.
Dietary iron is an essential mineral necessary for oxygen transport by haemoglobin. It is predicted that 2 billion individuals are affected by iron deficiency from iron-poor diets.
Yvie is currently investigating iron release (bioaccessibility) and absorption (bioavailability) from high-iron wheat lines engineered at the John Innes Centre.
Her project also involves producing flour from these lines, and baking bread rolls and chapattis to understand how a rich pool of iron in a food matrix may translate to greater iron absorption in the small intestine.
Yvie is in her second year of the EDESIA: Plants, Food and Health project Rotation PhD programme.