Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33888842›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2021

Soil zinc, serum zinc, and the potential for agronomic biofortification to reduce human zinc deficiency in Ethiopia.

Hugo De Groote, Masresha Tessema, Samuel Gameda, Nilupa S Gunaratna

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
7.3field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Global impact of micronutrients in modern human evolution.American journal of human genetics · 2025
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  5. Review
  6. Variation at the major facilitator superfamilyFrontiers in plant science · 2025
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  7. The 4T and 7T introgressions fromFrontiers in plant science · 2024
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Biofortification of common bean (Food and energy security · 2023
    Review
  12. Agronomic bio-fortification of wheat (Re/views in environmental science and bio/technology · 2023
    Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Hugo De GrooteInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), PO Box 1041-00621, Nairobi, Kenya. h.degroote@cgiar.org.ORCID 0000-0002-5081-0189
Masresha TessemaEthiopian Public Health Institute, Gulelle Arbegnoch Street, Gulele Sub City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0002-7155-4815
Samuel GamedaCIMMYT Ethiopia, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0003-1761-6373
Nilupa S GunaratnaDepartment of Public Health, Purdue University, 812 W State St., West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2059, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2504-4694
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center · KEInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center · ETJimma University · ETPurdue University West Lafayette · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Human zinc deficiency is a global public health problem. Many African soils are zinc deficient (ZnD), indicating fertilizers could increase crop yields and grain Zn levels, thereby increasing Zn in the food supply and alleviating human Zn deficiency. To analyze associations among soil Zn, human Zn deficiency, and child nutritional status, we combined the Ethiopian soil Zn map and the Ethiopian National Micronutrient Survey (ENMS). ENMS provides representative, georeferenced data on child nutritional status using anthropometry of children under five years old (CU5) and on human Zn deficiency among CU5 and women of reproductive age (WRA) using the recommended biomarker, serum Zn. ZnD soils mostly occur in lower altitudes, which are less populated and outside the main crop-producing areas. Serum Zn deficiencies were high, and correlated to soil Zn for children, but not for WRA. About 4 million Ethiopian CU5 are ZnD, and, of these, about 1.5 million live on low-Zn soils (< 2.5 mg/kg), while 0.3 million live on ZnD soils (< 1.5 mg/kg). Therefore, if Zn fertilizers are only applied on ZnD soils, their impact on child Zn deficiency may be limited. Greater impact is possible if Zn fertilizers are applied to soils with sufficient Zn for plant growth and if this results in increased grain Zn. Optimal soil Zn levels for plant and human nutrition may be different, and context-specific optimal levels for the latter must be determined to develop nutrition-sensitive fertilizer policies and recommendations.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultChildCrops, AgriculturalDeficiency DiseasesEthiopiaFemaleHumansNutritional StatusNutrition SurveysSoilYoung AdultZincSoilZinc

Identifiers

PMID33888842
PMCPMC8062485
OpenAlexW3155997501

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.