How and why iron-biofortified pearl millet improves cognitive function: a look inside a new study

“The human mind is our fundamental resource.” – John F. Kennedy, 1961

In a recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition, we found that consuming high-iron biofortified pearl millet improved cognitive function in iron-deficient Indian adolescents. What do we mean by cognitive function? How did we attribute its improvement to biofortified pearl millet? What are the implications of these findings on a broader scale? I will try to briefly answer these questions here.

Photo credit: Alina Paul-Bossuet/ICRISAT