Bringing the nutritional benefits of fish to vulnerable populations

As the world continues to reel from the impact of COVID-19, the importance of nutrition to health has become more apparent than ever. “We’re seeing that the impacts of COVID on people suffering from overweight and obesity or undernutrition are more severe than (with) well nourished people,” said Dr Jessica Bogard, a researcher for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), based in Brisbane, Australia.

One in three people around the world suffers from malnutrition, she added, noting that the term also refers to those who are overweight or obese as well as the undernourished and underweight.

For her work in public health nutrition science, Dr Bogard won the 2021 APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education, known as ASPIRE, which recognizes early-career scientists from APEC economies who have demonstrated “a commitment to excellence in scientific research and collaboration with scientists in the region.” This year’s theme was “Diverse Knowledge for a Sustainable Future.”

The prize, now in its 11^th edition, is cosponsored by Wiley and Elsevier.

“Winning the ASPIRE prize is an incredible honor,” she said. “I feel so privileged to receive recognition at this level for my contribution to science and to have the opportunity to share this work.”

Winning the prize has also helped build her confidence in the value of her work and overcome the niggling self-doubt known as imposter syndrome that she believes is relatively common among early career scientists. “Every now and then, thoughts such as ‘I’m not sure I’m qualified to have a seat at this table’ can creep in,” she explained. She encourages fellow early-career scientists to view mistakes or setbacks as learning opportunities, to take time to reflect on their achievements and celebrate the wins. Of the ASPIRE prize, she said:

The crystal trophy – that’s real. It means this work is really valuable and I was selected for a reason.

As an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Nutrition Systems Scientist with CSIRO, she focuses on using agriculture and foods systems to improve nutrition with a special interest in vulnerable population groups, particularly women and young children.

From the kitchen to the community

Dr Bogard’s interest in food began as a child: “I loved cooking. I used to bake scones and cakes with my sisters,” she recalled.

As she grew older, she learned about the “diet-disease” relationship and how foods can be used to treat disease, and her interest deepened. “I could see a potential career path,” she said.

She graduated from Queensland University of Technology in 2009 with a Bachelor of Health Science degree and started her career advising patients in a hospital clinic. She learned that people’s ability to implement good food choices can be limited by access and availability, educational background, and the institutional and policy factors that shape food environments.

“That triggered my interest in prevention,” she said:

It was really fascinating and great work, but I almost became frustrated because I couldn’t achieve the widespread impact I was passionate about working only one-on-one with people.

She also wanted to expand her horizons and see more of the world. She came across a volunteer program run by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to support Asia-Pacific countries in achieving their development goals. She applied for a role in Bangladesh with an international fisheries research institute called WorldFish. In 2012, she set off to Dhaka for an 18-month stint as a nutrition scientist. It was the opportunity she had been looking for to directly help people improve their lives through nutrition.

Soon after she arrived, she realized that this was a place where she could turn her research into action and see the impact directly. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is what I want to do. This where I feel I can make a difference to people’s lives,’” she recalled.

She worked with fisheries professionals, taking fish samples from rural areas, seeing first-hand how people lived, and visiting the fish markets where they shopped. Malnutrition is a widespread problem in Bangladesh, and her attention was particularly drawn to the nutritional deficits of pregnant women and very young children. She started to create fish-based food products that were rich in protein and suitable for both groups.

Many people are aware that oily fish are an important source of Omega-3 fatty acids, for example, but fish are also a rich source of many micronutrients that are crucial for good health and wellbeing. Micronutrients enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances that are essential for proper growth and development. Fish can help reduce the risk of heart disease, among other benefits. Also iron, which is often lacking in pregnant women, is more easily absorbed from fish than from other foods.

“Many of the small indigenous fish in Bangladesh are a rich source of key micronutrients, and our aim was to increase consumption of those,” she explained. “We drew on commonly consumed foods, such as a rice-based porridge for children that we added orange sweet potato to, as well as dried small fish. We selected those with special nutritional qualities and we modified the texture to suit.”

To test the product, she went directly to her target market, working informally with women in the community, asking them to try it out and adjusting the ingredients based on their feedback. Once the recipes were finalized, she helped set up a production supply chain with fishing communities and a local food producer.

The feedback from users was encouraging, with messages such as “it improved my breast milk supply” and “it gave me more milk.” The concept was adapted and then used in other parts of the country.

“It shows the power of local ingredients, using what’s there and what people already like, and simple processing methods,” Dr Bogard said.

“Women bring a different perspective than men …”

In addition to Bangladesh providing her with invaluable on-the-ground experience, a clear trajectory for her career and vindication for her move from a one-on-one approach to nutrition, the experience also led her to her mentor: nutrition scientist Dr Shakuntala Thilsted, who just won the 2021 World Food Prize. Dr Thilsted guided her in the topic that would become her PhD thesis: the contribution of fish to nutrition and food security in Bangladesh.

Women have a particularly prominent role to play in nutrition, Dr Bogard said, mainly because it often falls to women to act as the gatekeepers of the family’s nutrition through their choice of food. Women also play a significant role in food production. In Bangladesh, she found that women are often responsible for feeding the fish, maintaining the ponds and marketing the fish. Women can also provide valuable input in science and research in the field of nutrition.

“Women bring a different perspective than men because of their experience and world views,” she said. “Diversity is so important so we can get all of the best ideas on the table.”

“It’s challenging working across disciplines … but also extremely rewarding.”

Working with a diversity of views is an essential part of Dr Bogard’s own day-to-day work in Brisbane, where she collaborates with colleagues from a range of backgrounds, including agricultural scientists, livestock scientists, environmental scientists, economists and social scientists.

“It’s challenging working across disciplines because you sort of speak a different technical language, but it’s also extremely rewarding,” she said. “You can always draw things back to your common goals of improving food security, improving nutrition and improving people’s livelihoods. It broadens your world view and your perspective and opens you up to much bigger thinking about how you can achieve the most impact in the best possible way.”

“One of those really proud moments …”

Because of the pandemic and maternity leave, Jessica has been working mainly from home for the past few years. When she does leave Brisbane, it’s often for field work in the Solomon Islands, where she works with fisheries scientists on community-based resource management. Over lunch, she sometimes chats casually with colleagues about nutrition and local diets to get familiar with the local context.

“One of the common practices was that they would visit local communities during their research and bring them food supplies,” she explained. “They would bring rice, sugar, instant noodles … quite unhealthy foods, basically.”

On a return visit, a pleasant surprise awaited her.

“It was one of those really proud moments when I came back several months later and found they weren’t taking these processed foods to the community anymore,” she said. “Instead, they had contracted locals to provide healthy meals, vegetables and fruit. I saw their own changing mindsets about health and nutrition, and it wasn’t imposed – it evolved naturally.”

The experience gave her a meaningful insight into the potential for the reach and impact of her work:

Success is not just about what you put on paper. You can really achieve wonderful things outside what you originally intended to work on.