Plumpynut: The Miracle Food

[xxakli]

Isn't Brad Pitt or someone like that supposed to have a heart for this? Can you attempt to pass this along to some perspective backers? That would take your reporting to the next level, how cool would that be.

[trufiend138]

those areas need birth control first, then an agriculture revolution....plumpy nut doenst fix the prob...

[skittlesareyum48]

this should be used in sudan also. i wonder when it will be widespread

[hydrogoon]

life goes on, fate is a byproduct of destiny....

[jerryaltman]

If you get a population and give medicents, food, vacines, and no natality controll, you will kill more people in future than you helped earlier, since there will be no food to so many more people in future and many will die of starvation. As example vacine campaigns in 50% and 60% created a lot of hungry in the late 70's an80's, since the population become much higher and there was no food to so many. Natality control avoid milions of deads of starvation in future.

[NbKIPreCiSioN]

why are so many kid dying?

coz theyve never heard of condoms...

[fox20012]

Tokyo has a population of around 10 million and there isn't much starvation going on there, so I don't think your condoms theory does you much credit.

[NbKIPreCiSioN]

is tokyo as poor as africa tho?....

[fox20012]

Yeah but it has every thing to do with the family cultural unit. Wearing a condom wont make you prepare for the future, or help make wise health, financial or political decisions. I don't care how poor you are. a productive family unit is a powerful force. Just go to a small country town in japan, they are extremely organized, proactive and have very good town political structures.

[vaenne]

Aaand, another point:

You cannot find any milk in most of these countries. I am german, so i only know the european business policies well, but our milk is subsidized. And for that reason, everybody produces as much milk as possible. What to do with the rest, which is not needed "here"? Make it a powder and send it somewhere else. And the subsidy makes it even cheaper than the price of the milk, they produce themselves. Terrible reality.

[vaenne]

500 chars...

How come they could survive in the past, before intelligent white men came and brought along a liberal market?

Besides the devastating influence of money streams in all possible forms, the demand of the northern countries influences the offer of food in these countries. When i was in Nigeria the last time, the prices for corn where higher outside the country than inside. Can you believe there was NO corn available in Nigeria? Absolutely none. No need to even guess why, huh?

[vaenne]

So, if the company would be able to give it away for free (caused by some investments of any government), it wouldnt even be better, because then, nobody else would have the possibility to sell grain, sorn, cattle, chicken, etc.

"It delivers everything we need. Why buy some other stuff?" - "Nobody buys my corn. No way for me to keep this work."

[SOAHCSOAHCSOAHC]

That's very true. Until these desperate regions become SELF-sufficient, all the help in the world isn't enough. We have to start equipping these people with the resources and knowledge to produce their own food.

[vaenne]

And i agree, that it might really be nutricious and helpful itself.

But still i am sceptical, because it is just another solution from abroad. The only case i could really support this product would be, if it was in form of a development aid program. More exactly: A guy in every village, town whatever, mixing and selling this like cattle or chicken. Not a company from abroad, which takes the money along. Only in the first way, that money would stay there, because he would spend it again.

[vaenne]

And CloudNineKaze: There is even a scientific explanation for that.

Shortly, ask yourself. When you are in a situation without health insurance, no retirement fund and no other social securities, how would you try to make sure, you have at least a bit of safety? Children. And why so many? How do you know, that your one child will survive long enough to be able to support you? Its crazy yes. But there is in that moment no other possibility. Or do you see a chance of security somewhere else?

[vaenne]

Interesting. Who needs this crap? We already produce enough food for the whole mankind. But hey, lets invest more money in an absolutely unuseful product, which is supported by the media. Question is: How much might they have paid for this 60 minutes advert?

[SOAHCSOAHCSOAHC]

I tend to agree with you, but there are also a few advantages to this product. From what I can tell just from this vid, it's a complete source of nutrition, at least the bare minimum. It would seem to have a long shelf life that fresh meats and vegetables lack, and it's hard to screw up(we're not dealing with Nobel laureates here). That, and it's got "magic bullet" appeal. Yes the answer has always been simple, but when you make it sound like it's NEWLY simple, it catches on.

[AlmostClassic]

@vaenne Actually it's an incredibly important advancement. Kids who are malnourished can't just be fed normal food; it could kill them because their bodies aren't used to it. Plumpynut can literally "cure" malnutrition as it isn't abrasive to their stomachs and will make so with a month they can eat "normal" food, so in that respect, millions need it.

[CloudNineKaze]

I'm not trying to extend a point with this question, but I'd just like an answer. If the mothers are so unable to feed their children, why do they have so many babies? Is avoiding sex really more devastating than giving birth to a child then watching it wither before your eyes and die?

[gobigorange99]

Wow, that is a simple product to make!

[Vyse918]

I remember hearing about this a long while back. I guess after all that time they have plenty of good results from it. Now here's a question, would it help those who are exiting the Anorexia phase? If so what would happen to 'Plumpynut' then?

[sac2ase1]

Hhmm Good One.....

[LetsGetGroovy]

new? they've used it for a long time.

[GarrettDoyle]

I've known about this for 3 years!

[motorolarules]

I wonder what the side effects are? I wonder who allowed something good to get to these people? Where are the war lords that normally steal the supplies? Is it not worth stealing?

[DANE842]

Give it time to catch on, then it'll get stolen. Or, it's so cheap to make and easily available that it'd be not worth taking control of.

[Argonaut22j]

The upside is that this new food may end world hunger, but the downside is its name lends itself far too easily to low-brow humor.

[Argonaut22j]

I'm about one more workweek w/out enough hours away from buying some plumpynut myself.

[infinidem]

I would eat plumpynut. Cool vid!