Scientific Advisors
Dr. Manju Reddy
Dr. Reddy is a Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University and a leading international researcher in the study of iron bioavailability. She has made significant contributions in improving the health of the poorest populations around the world.
Manju's interdisciplinary research has been endorsed globally by scholars, universities, and nonprofit organizations. She has published more than 60 manuscripts in the field's highest ranking nutrition journals, including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Journal of Nutrition, and The British Journal of Nutrition.
Manju has been the Principal Investigator in several studies performed with Ultimine™. She states that “Ultimine™ is a natural organic source of iron and showed excellent iron bioavailability based on in vitro, animal and human studies. This product has the potential to be used as a food fortificant as well as iron supplement for people with iron deficiency.”
Professor Dr. Richard Hurrell
Dr. Hurrell graduated in Food Technology from the University of Reading in the UK in 1969 and after a short spell in the food industry took a Masters in Nutrition and a PhD at the University of Cambridge UK under Kenneth Carpenter, specializing in Bioavailability of lysine and the effect of food processing on nutritional quality of foods. He joined Nestlé Research in Switzerland in 1978 and became head of the micronutrient group focusing on iron bioavailability and fortification in relation to infant foods.
He moved to the Institute of Food Science, ETH Zurich in 1994 as a full Professor of Human Nutrition, introducing nutrition into the food science curriculum and setting up a research program based on micronutrient malnutrition focused on the developing world. He was joint author of the WHO food fortification guidelines (2006, 2009) and has worked closely with Harvest Plus, GAIN and IAEA to improve micronutrient malnutrition. He has been a GAIN Board member since 2002, ILSI Europe Board since 2010 and was Editor of the International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research from 2001-2014. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed papers with recent interest in the influence of infections on iron bioavailability; the influence of phytases on iron and zinc absorption in infants; the influence of inulin and carotenoids on iron absorption; efficacy of zinc, vitamin A and iron from triple fortified extruded rice; iron absorption from biofortified beans; and the efficacy in women and children of NaFeEDTA fortified margarine and flour.
He retired as Head of Human Nutrition at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health at ETH in 2012 taking Professor Emeritus status and continues to work closely with GAIN, WHO, Harvest Plus and other international organizations.